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| In order for your secondary DNS to work properly, you have to go in and add all of your primary zones as secondary zones on the secondary DNS. Go the DNS Manager on the secondary DNS. You will see your Primary and your Secondary DNS listed. Under your secondary server, create a new zone and select the secondary radio button. Type in the name, then click next. Tab through to create the zone file, and for the Master IP place the IP address of your Primary DNS. Once that is complete, all of your records should transfer over to the secondary DNS. Once you are finished, you may want to update the zone files for your DNS. | ||
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Is there's any way to minimize a Windows NT Workstation 4.0 window using only the keyboard. There sure is--all you have to do is press Alt-Space-N. To maximize a window, press Alt-Space-X. If you want to close a window without touching the mouse, simply press Alt-F4. Want to move a window without help from the mouse? Press Alt-Space-M. Now use the arrow keys to position the window. When you're finished moving the window, press Enter. You can also size a window using the arrow keys--just press Alt-Space-S. |
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Go to the Command Prompt and type dir > prn then press Enter. This is an easy way to print the contents of any folder as long as your printer will work using this method. The problem is that most laser printers require a form feed signal before they start printing. What happens in many cases is that the Directory is less than one page, and no form feed gets sent to the printer. When this happens, you won't get output unless you repeat the command. Give this method a try--it may work fine for you. |
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"I recently tried to format a floppy disk in drive A with no luck. Later I tried the format again and it worked. I've had this happen several times over the year or so that I've been using Windows NT Workstation 4.0. I've also had Copy Disk fail. Do you have any idea why Format and Copy Disk would work most of the time and then occasionally fail?" The most likely reason for the problem you describe is that drive A is open when you attempt the format. To check this out, run Windows NT Explorer and select drive A. Insert a blank disk now (you don't want to mess up a data disk) and right-click the drive A icon. Choose Format; when the Format dialog box opens, click Start. The formatting will fail because the contents of the drive are currently displayed. Now, click drive C in Windows NT Explorer. Go back to the drive A icon and right-click it again. Choose Format and then click Start. This time the Format will work. The problem is that you can't do a Copy Disk Format while Explorer or My Computer is displaying the contents of your floppy. You can click any other object to stop displaying the contents of the floppy and then right-click drive A. |
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Here's one we heard about from subscriber N. G. and also ran across with our own installation. If you install Windows NT Workstation 4.0and then install Service Pack 3 before you install networking, you may get an error telling you that the Server service failed due to lack of memory. To correct the problem, reinstall Service Pack 3. To avoid the problem, install all the network components before you install Service Pack 3. |
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Windows NT Workstation 4.0 That said, it IS possible to make a boot disk to help with some of the more common problems you encounter with Windows NT Workstation 4.0 at start-up. Suppose, for example, that you use a dual boot system. Let's say your NTLDR file is damaged. This will prevent a normal boot. You can create a disk that will at least get you through the start-up so you can choose NT or Windows. To do this, format a floppy disk. Now, run Windows NT Explorer and copy the following files to the floppy disk: NTDETECT.COM If you have NTBOOTDD.SYS in your boot folder, copy it to the floppy as well. When you have a problem starting your system, insert the new boot floppy and restart. The boot disk will allow you access when the files in the boot folder (usually drive C) are damaged. It is not a true boot disk, since there are no operating system files on it. |
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Would you like to get to the desktop quickly even though you don't have one of the new Windows keyboards? With the Windows keyboard, all you have to do to get to the desktop is press the Windows key-M. If you don't have a Windows keyboard, you can press Ctrl-Esc and then press Alt-M. |
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Even NTFS volumes need to be defragmented now and then. There's no doubt that your disk operations will get a new lease on life with less fragmentation. Unfortunately, Windows NT Workstation 4.0 doesn't include a defrag utility. But Diskeeper Lite from Execsoft will do the job for you. If you'd like to try Diskeeper Lite, go to and click Download. You'll be asked to fill out Execsoft's Guest Book before you begin. Although previous versions of Diskeeper Lite for the Intel platform had a 30-day expiration, this one is free and has no expiration. Note that, because the program is free, there is no support. If you decide you want the features of the full version, all you have to do is request the upgrade. |
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If you're working with an application and need to open the current disk's folder, click Start, Run. Type in a single period (.) and press Enter. This will open the current disk's folder. For example, if you're running your on Drive D, then the Drive D folder will open. |
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| How do you create an icon from a graphics file you already have?" If you'd like to expand your icon library, Windows NT Workstation 4.0 can use existing BMP files as icons. You can even design your own icons if you like. Let's say you have a shortcut to Windows NT Explorer on your desktop. To change the icon, right-click the shortcut and choose Properties. When the Properties dialog box opens, click the Shortcut tab. Now, click Change Icon. When the Change Icon dialog box opens, select from one of the offered icons, or click Browse to locate a BMP file to use as an icon. Clicking Browse opens another dialog box also named Change Icon. You can use this dialog box to search for those BMP files. First, though, you need to click the arrow at the right side of the Files of Type list box to open the list. Choose All Files from the list. Now, locate a BMP file to use as a test icon. Select the file and click Open. Back in the first Change Icon dialog box, click OK to continue. In the Properties dialog box, click OK to close the box and apply your change. You'll find that the lighter and less crowded BMP files look best as icons. | ||
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| We have often discussed placing shortcuts on the desktop. In general, we recommend that you run Windows NT Explorer and then use the right mouse button to drag an icon to the desktop. When you release the mouse button, a menu opens. You choose Create Shortcut(s) Here from the menu. Pointed out that you can create a shortcut directly on the desktop without running Windows NT Explorer.To create a shortcut this way, right-click the desktop and choose New, Shortcut to open the Create Shortcut wizard. When the wizard opens, type the name and full path of the file to which you want to create the shortcut, then click Next. If you don't know the full name and path, click Browse. When the Browse dialog box opens, locate and select the file to which you want to make a shortcut. Click Open to continue. Back in the Create Shortcut wizard, click Next and type in a name for your new shortcut. Click Next again and select an icon. Click Finish to close the dialog box and create your new shortcut--icon and all. | ||
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| You can create folders almost anywhere in Windows NT Workstation 4.0. For example, you can right-click the desktop (or any blank spot inside a folder) and choose New, Folder. You can open the Command Prompt window, type md c:\MyNewFolder and press Enter. You can also create a new folder inside an existing folder. To do this, open a folder and choose File, New, Folder. However, we recently received questions from readers who would like to create a new folder in My Computer--and this you cannot do. My Computer is a special window, and you can neither add to it nor subtract from it. | ||
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| I have three computers tied together in a small office. I'd like to place drive icons on my desktop for the other two computers. The only problem with this is it seems to take forever for the network to connect when I boot the computer. Is there a way to speed up the process?" When you place remote drive icons on your desktop, NT 4.0 will take a few moments to make sure you're reconnected every time you start the computer. However, you can turn off this option. Double-click the Network Neighborhood icon to open it. Locate the drive you want to place on your desktop. Right-click the icon and choose Map Network Drive. To stop the automatic reconnects, deselect the check box labeled "Reconnect at logon." Click OK to record your selection. Now you can open My Computer and place a shortcut to the new drive on your desktop. When you restart the computer, Windows NT Workstation 4.0 will not attempt to connect the remote computer. However, when you double-click the remote drive icon, you'll get connected. The first time you attempt to open the remote drive, you may notice a slight delay, but it will connect rather quickly. | ||
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| We often create REG files to take care of tasks that would otherwise require us to modify the Registry directly using RegEdit. The reason we prefer REG files is that readers can keep these files for later use. This is much easier than keeping copies of the tips and then going through all the RegEdit steps. However, since we've started using more REG files, we have also received complaints about the files not working properly. We found that part of the problem was that the text format might look different on your computer than on ours. That's because different e-mail programs may display text differently, crop certain characters, or delete blank spaces. This can lead to errors in the REG file. It's also important to note that there must be at least one empty line at the end of each REG file. So we've decided to include the text "Blank line goes here" wherever there's a need for a blank line. When you create a REG file from one of our tips, be sure you press Enter wherever the blank-line placeholder appears. Thanks to subscriber Chuck T. for his valuable input on this topic. | ||
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| Remember the tip that won't die? Here's the question that won't die about the tip that won't die:Question: If I use the automatic log-on (the undead tip) that you described in a recent tip, can I still log on as another user? Answer: To log on as another user, click Start and then choose Shut Down. Select the radio button labeled Close All Programs and Log On as a Different User? Click Yes and hold down the Shift key while Windows NT restarts. When Windows NT Workstation 4.0 restarts, the sign-in box will appear. Just type in the new name and associated password. | ||
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| We get a lot of questions about Network
Neighborhood. Most of these questions involve how to get the icon off the desktop. If you
don't want the Network Neighborhood icon on your desktop, here's a REG file that will make
it disappear. As usual, we must warn you that REG files can damage your Registry. We can't
guarantee that any REG file will do what you expect on your system. With this disclaimer
out of the way, here's the REG file. To create it, run Notepad and type in the following
exactly as shown. (Note: The line numbers are there to show you what goes on a single
line--do not type them in. In the past we have had some problems with REG files due to the
way the e-mail is formatted. To alleviate these problems, we now use line numbers in all
REG files. This will help you see how the file should be formatted even if the format is
incorrect in your e-mail. Don't enter these numbers--if you enter them, your REG file will
not work. Also, whether this appears in your e-mail or not, there should be a blank line
between REGEDIT4 and the first line of code.) 1 REGEDIT4 2 3[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] 4"NoNetHood"=dword:1 Choose File, Save As and name the file Net.reg. Save it in the folder of your choice. To merge the file with the Registry, double-click its icon. After the file successfully merges, restart the computer. After you've restarted, the Network Neighborhood icon will no longer appear on your desktop. |
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| For people who want to listen to audio CDs with headphones: Open the volume control (double-click its icon in the Taskbar) and move the slider buttons up to the volume you want, then select the check box labeled Mute All. Now close the volume control (Options, Exit), plug in your headphones to your CD-ROM drive, and run CD Player (Start, Programs, Accessories, Multimedia, CD Player). If you do this, you can listen to music without being bothered by the background sounds.You can use a similar method to listen to music with the speakers. Open Volume Control and select Mute for all the check boxes except the one for the CD. This will prevent your hearing the computer sounds while you enjoy your CD. | ||
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| Recently when using Windows Explorer, I tried to open a file named Card.brk, and a dialog box opened saying Type Not Recognized, so I took a guess and told it to open using mplayer. This didn't work, so now I would like to open the file using raplayer, but every time I go to Windows Explorer to open Card.brk, it tries to open it in mplayer. Is there some way I can get Windows to stop seeing .brk as type mplayer and have Windows see it as another type of file?"Let's say you double-click a file for which there is no association. The Open With dialog box opens so you can choose a program that will open the file. Most often, the check box labeled "Always use this program to open this file" is selected, so once you choose a program to open the file, the association will stick even if the program doesn't work with the file. To choose another program, select the file in question, then hold down Shift. Now, right-click the file's icon and choose Open With from the menu. The Open With dialog box appears again, and you can make a new choice. If you select the "Always use this program to open this file" check box, the new association becomes the default. | ||
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| We've had several messages asking about an
easy way to keep Windows NT 4.0 from automatically starting CDs as soon as they're
inserted into the drive. We've gone through the Registry edit for this in a past tip. This
time, let's write a REG file to do the job.We can't guarantee that a REG file will run as
expected on your system, so be careful--after all, the REG file does modify the system
Registry.Click Start, Programs, Accessories, Notepad. Type in the following as shown
except for the line numbers. We have inserted the line numbers to show you which data goes
on each line. 1. REGEDIT4 2. 3. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Cdrom] 4. 5. "Autorun"=dword:00000000 Choose File, Save As and name the file Auto.reg. Save it in a convenient folder. Double-click Auto.reg to merge its data with the Registry. If you decide to turn Autorun back on, you can create another REG file. Once again, run Notepad and enter: 1. REGEDIT4 2. 3. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Cdrom] 4. 5. "Autorun"=dword:00000001 Name this file AutoOn.reg and save it. To turn on AutoRun, just double-click the AutoOn.reg icon. Note: Some software may not like having AutoRun turned off. For example, we get a warning that our HP rewritable CD drive may not function properly with AutoRun off. 11/2 |
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| I put together systems using Windows NT Workstation 4.0. I'd like to set up all the workstations to display an introductory message the first time a user logs on. I want the message to disappear after the first log-on without any intervention on my part. A friend says this is possible, but he doesn't remember how to do it. Can you help?"To display a message one time only, use the RunOnce key in the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Registry. Since you'd like to apply this to several computers at one time, let's look at how you can write a REG file to do the job for you. As usual, we must warn you that we can't guarantee a REG file will do what you want. We also can't guarantee system damage won't occur. To write the REG file, run Notepad and enter the following exactly as shown, except that you should enter a blank line where it says "Blank line goes here." REGEDIT4 Blank line goes here [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce] "Welcome"="c:\\welcome.cmd" Blank line goes here Choose File, Save As and locate a folder for your new file. Name the file Welcome.reg and click Save. Now you need to generate a message file. Run Notepad again and type in the following. @echo off echo Your message goes here pause Exit Choose File, Save As and locate the root folder, C:\. Name the file Welcome.cmd and click Save. Now, double-click Welcome.reg. This will merge the REG file with the current Registry. The next time someone logs on, the message will display. You can put Welcome.cmd and Welcome.reg onto a floppy disk. Put the disk into drive A of a computer that you're ready to turn over to a user and copy Welcome.cmd to c:\ (assuming C is the drive that contains Winnt). Double-click Welcome.reg to modify the Registry. Remove the floppy and let the user take over. The welcome message will run only the first time someone logs onto the system. Windows NT Workstation 4.0 will then remove the new entry from the Registry, and the Welcome file won't run again. | ||
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| Now that the holidays are once again upon us, we thought you might like to try some festive wallpaper. Go to http://www.pcworld.com/fileworld/file_description/frameset/0,1458,4327,00.html to download a copy of the Holly-day wallpaper collection. This Zip file contains a collection of wreaths, bells, and candles. Unzip to your \Winnt folder. You may also like to take a look at Christmas wallpapers, located at http://www.pcworld.com/fileworld/file_description/frameset/0,1458,4332,00.html.As before, unzip to \Winnt. | ||
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| Here's something we've experienced that may be of interest to other readers. RegEdit has a limit on how big the text field can be when you're adding or changing text. For example, our Legal Notice is too large to update with either RegEdit or Profile Editor. However, if you use a REG file to update the values, then the contents of the field can be significantly longer. To create a REG file for this job, run Notepad and enter the following as shown here, except be sure to press Enter to create a blank line in place of the text "Blank line goes here."REGEDIT4 Blank line goes here [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] "LegalNoticeCaption"="Put your caption here" "LegalNoticeText"="Enter your personal text here" Blank line goes here Type in your personal caption and notice, then choose File, Save As and locate a folder for your new file. Name the file Legal.reg and save it. To use the file, double-click its icon and then restart the computer. As always when working with the Registry, please proceed with extreme caution. | ||
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| Let's say you're working in Windows NT Explorer and you'd like to expand all the subfolders. Don't waste time clicking each plus sign; just click a folder to select it and then press the asterisk (*) key on the numerical keypad. This will expand all the folders.Note: The asterisk key over the 8 will not work--you need to use the one in the number pad. | ||
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| When you work with Windows NT Explorer, you frequently need to expand and collapse the folders. You can do this with the mouse, of course, but this isn't the only way. We recently ran a tip discussing keyboard techniques you can use to expand and collapse folders and subfolders in Windows NT Explorer. "In a recent tip, you suggested using the asterisk, plus, and minus keys on the numeric keypad to expand and collapse folders and subfolders in Windows NT Explorer. An even easier way is to use the arrow keys adjacent to the numeric keypad. Use the right arrow to expand and the left arrow to collapse the selected folder. "Using this method allows you to move up, down, and expand or collapse the folders without moving your hands across the keyboard to do all four of these functions." | ||
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| When you open Windows NT Explorer, it defaults to C:\WINNT\Profiles\Administrator\Start Menu Since I am on a network, I would prefer that it open to s:\data, as that is where I spend most of my time. Is there a way to change this?" We've discussed how to open Windows NT Explorer in a particular folder before. You can do the same with a network folder. For the sake of this discussion, let's assume that you have an Explorer shortcut on your desktop. Right-click the Explorer icon and choose Properties. When the dialog box opens, click the Shortcut tab. Click in the Target entry box and add /eto the end of the line. Your line will now look something like our example line: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e Next, click in the Start In entry box and type in the path to your networked drive. For example, the path could be \\NetComputer\Data Click OK to close the dialog box and record your changes. When you double-click the Explorer icon, Explorer will open to the new drive assignment. If the network drive is unavailable, Explorer will open to the desktop. Note that we tested this procedure using a peer-to-peer network. We did not test it using a server. | ||
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| I'd like to be able to determine when Windows NT Workstation 4.0 was last started on any given computer. I've been told there's a way. Can you help?" The only way we know to find out when Windows NT Workstation 4.0 was last started requires that you use the Command Prompt. At the prompt, type net statistics workstation and press Enter. The first line shows the last time the system was started. To see the first line, you may need to type net statistics workstation |more at the prompt. More causes the program's output to pause at the end of the first page. | ||
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| When you format a floppy disk, you have two options--you can use standard formatting (the default) or you can select the Quick Format check box. Since Quick Format is so much faster than standard format, why wouldn't I use Quick Format all the time?" Let's take a look at what Murray is talking about. Put a blank disk or one you don't need into drive A. Open My Computer and then right-click the Floppy A icon. From the menu, choose Format. When the Format A dialog box opens, you'll see the Quick Format check box. If you select this check box, Windows NT Workstation 4.0 performs a Quick Format as soon as you click Start. If Quick Format is not selected, you get the standard format when you click Start. If you're sure the disk is OK, then you can save time by using Quick Format. Basically, Quick Format modifies the FAT to tell the disk it's blank. This is OK if you're absolutely sure the floppy is good. If you're not so sure, you'd better stick with the standard format, which checks each sector on the disk. This is why it takes longer. In effect, the standard format performs a complete low-level and high-level format. Quick Format uses the formatting that already exists on the floppy and only modifies the FAT. | ||
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| I recently had to reinstall Windows NT Workstation 4.0 completely. I discovered that disk 3 of the installation set was bad. I had to borrow a disk from someone to complete the installation. Is there an easy way to make a new disk 3, or do I have to order a new set from Microsoft?" You won't need to order a new set--you can make a new set from the installation CD. Make sure you have three formatted, blank floppy disks available. Now, insert the installation CD into the CD-ROM drive and then click Start, Run, and type d:\i386\winnt32 /ox then press Enter. (Note: D represents the drive letter of the CD-ROM--if yours is something other than D, enter the correct drive letter here). Follow the instructions to create a new set of disks. If you get in a bind, such as the one you described, you can create the disks on a non-NT 4 computer. Let's say you have access to a computer that runs Windows 95. Insert the NT 4 installation disc into the CD-ROM drive and click Start, Run. Type d:\i386\winnt /ox and press Enter. Follow the instructions to create the three disks. | ||
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| I share my computer with two other users. One of the other users changes the mouse tracking speed. So when I use the computer, I have to click Start, then choose Settings, Control Panel, open Mouse, and so forth, just to set the speed where I can use it. Is there a way that I can access the Mouse panel directly without going through all those steps?" Glad you asked. There just happens to be a way to do what you want. Run Windows NT Explorer and navigate to \Winnt\system32. Locate Main.cpl and use the right mouse button to drag its icon to the desktop. Release the mouse button and choose Create Shortcut(s) Here. All you have to do now is double-click your new shortcut to open the mouse panel. | ||
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| How do you remove entries in the path field generated in the Map Network Drive dialog box? I map drives all the time in my office network, but I don't use all of them any longer and I now have a long list of useless entries." Open My Computer. You should see a drive for each of the mapped network drives. Right-click a drive you want to delete and choose Disconnect. The drive assignment will disappear from My Computer and from the Map Network Drive dialog box. | ||
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| Having trouble with temp files it seems that every day more and more empty folders with the extension .tmp appear in my c:\temp directory. Is there a batch file or registry setting I can use to delete these at start-up?"Here's a batch file that should handle the job. To create the file, run Notepad and enter the following as shown here.@echo off del c:\temp\*.tmp Choose File, Save As and locate a folder for the new file. Name the file deltmp.bat and save it. Next, run Windows NT Explorer and locate your start-up folder (under \Winnt\Profiles\YourName\Programs). Grab the deltmp.bat icon with the right mouse button and drag it to your start-up folder. Release the mouse button and choose Create Shortcut(s) Here.Note that it's possible to lose some data when you use this batch file. For example, if a program hangs and you shut it down using End Task, you may have lost some data you needed in those temp files. | ||
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| Are you tired of that start banner with the little arrow--the one that says Click Here to Begin? If so, here's a REG file that will dispense with that start banner. Be careful when you run REG files--we don't guarantee that the file will do what you expect, and we can't guarantee that the REG file won't cause system problems. To write the REG file, run Notepad and type in the following exactly as shown, with blank lines where indicated.REGEDIT4 BLANK LINE GOES HERE [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] "NoStartBanner"="1" BLANK LINE GOES HERE Now, choose File, Save As and locate a folder for your new REG file. Name the file Banner.reg and click Save. To use the file, double-click its icon. The information will be merged into the Registry, and the next time you start your computer, you won't see that banner. If you decide you'd like to have the banner back again, change "NoStartBanner"="1" to "NoStartBanner"="0" and restart the computer. | ||
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| Over the past months, we have described several schemes that will allow you to get to the desktop quickly. As a number of readers have pointed out, you don't have to do anything special to get to the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 desktop if you use a keyboard with a Windows key. All you have to do is press Windows-M. This minimizes all the active windows and gets you to the blank desktop. We've mentioned this before, but we've had so much mail on the subject that we thought we should cover the topic again. Note that this method minimizes all the active windows--it does not minimize dialog boxes. In fact, this is a good way to get back to open dialog boxes. Let's say that you have opened the Multimedia dialog box. Then you opened a Readme file for reference. You can get to the dialog box with Alt-Tab, but you can get there immediately with Windows-M. | ||
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| I'm in charge of a number of computers running
Windows NT Workstation 4.0. My problem is that too many users inadvertently make changes
that cause problems. It would help me if I could prevent users from seeing drive C. Is
there a way to hide the disk drives?" You can hide disk drives from the desktop and
Windows NT Explorer with a simple Registry edit. Be careful with this because we can't
guarantee that all will run as you expect, and you can damage your system with an
incorrect Registry Edit. To hide drive C, click Start, Run, then type regedit and press
Enter. When RegEdit opens, navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer Right-click in the right pane and choose New, DWORD
Value. Name the new key NoDrives and then press Enter twice (once to accept the name and
once to open the Edit DWORD Value dialog box. In the dialog box, select the radio button
labeled Decimal. Now, enter 4 and click OK. Choose Registry, Exit to close RegEdit and
restart the computer. Upon restarting, drive C will no longer appear in Explorer or in My
Computer. This isn't absolute protection--you can still access drive C if you click Start,
Run, type c:\ and press Enter. However, not all your users will know this, so you'll have
some degree of protection.If you need to hide some drive other than C, the following is a
list of a few drives and their associated numbers. Drive A: 1 Drive B: 2 Drive C: 4 Drive D: 8 Drive E: 16 So if you want to hide drives C, D, and E, set NoDrives to 28 decimal (16 + 8 + 4). To hide only drive A, you'd enter 1. |
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| I recently played with a Macintosh that was being used by label designers, and they had a neat keyboard setup. The function keys were all programmed as hotkeys to load a specific program (F6 to load PhotoShop, F8 to load PageMaker, and so on). I was wondering if this is possible in Win NT or Win 95. If not, would it be possible to use Ctrl to load a program?"You can assign function keys to programs. However, you need to be aware that many of these keys are already assigned. If you reassign them, you'll lose the original function. This caveat applies to program key assignments as well. As an example, F1 is assigned to Help. When you press F1, the Help window will open. This will work in almost all Windows NT 4.0 programs. If you assign F1 to open a program, you'll lose the ability to press F1 in any program when you want to open Help.Let's suppose that you don't care about using F1 to open Help and that you'd like to reassign it to open Microsoft Word. To do this, place a shortcut to Word on your desktop. Now, right-click the shortcut's icon and choose Properties from the menu. In the Properties dialog box, click the Shortcut tab. Next, click once in the Shortcut Key entry box. Press F1 to assign the key to Word. Click OK to close the dialog box. When you press F1 now, Word will open. You can assign any key combination that isn't already in use, or you can assign one that is in use as long as you don't need to use the keys for the original purpose. If you don't want to use F1 to open Word, you could try Ctrl-Alt-W. | ||
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| When researching a topic in reference books, many people find it useful to use sticky notes to make notes to themselves concerning a particular topic. When you work with the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Help files, you might also find it convenient to make notes to yourself--and you can do just that without ever reaching for a sheet of paper. Let's take a look at how to annotate your Help topics .Double-click My Computer to open it and then choose Help, Help Topics. When the Help Topics dialog box opens, click the Index tab. Select a topic and click Display. Now, click Options and choose Annotate. This opens the Annotate dialog box. Enter your note and click Save to close the dialog box and save your note. You'll notice a green paper-clip icon next to the topic now. Click the icon to open the Annotate dialog box and read your notes. | ||
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| When I use the dial-up server (RAS), it answers on the first ring. I'd like to have it wait for the second ring. Is there a way to do this?" There doesn't appear to be a simple way to change the way that RAS answers the line. However, you can do this with a Registry edit. As usual, be very careful when working with RegEdit. Click Start, Run, typeRegedit and press Enter. When RegEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class. Now, expand Class and look for the Modem entry (it's usually the fourth one down). The first modem (if you have more than one) will be 0000. Expand this and then click Monitor. In the right pane you should see 1 ATSO=o[cr] Double-click this icon and change the 0 to a 2 (or the number of rings you want to use). Click OK and then close RegEdit (choose Registry, Exit). Restart the computer (or log off and log back on). You can start RAS now, and it will answer on the number of rings you selected. | ||
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| It seems to me I saw a tip about a way to keep Task Manager open but not visible. Is there a way to do this?"We ran a tip on this topic some time ago, but let's do a quick rehash. To keep Task Manager running but hidden from view, first open it by pressing Ctrl-Shift-Esc. Now choose Options, Hide When Minimized. Next, minimize Task Manager. Its icon will appear in the taskbar near the time display. To make Task Manager visible, double-click the taskbar icon. After each use, minimize it again--don't close it. | ||
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| There is. The reason for having a boot floppy is that there are times when Windows NT won't start, and you know why it won't start. For example, suppose Ntdetect.com is bad. And you know that's what is wrong because when you try to boot the computer, you get an error message telling you that the system can't find, or load, Ntdetect. When something like this happens, you can go through the usual procedures to restore the system. However, since you already know what's wrong, you could get your system back up again more quickly if you use a boot floppy.Make your boot floppy before any files go bad--there's no point in trying to make a boot floppy with potentially bad files. To create your boot floppy, insert a blank formatted floppy disk into Drive A. Now open Windows NT Explorer and click the root folder (usually C:\). Copy the following files to the floppy disk:Boot.ini Ntdetect.com Bootsect.dos (for dual startup installations) NTLDR Ntbootdd.sys (if it's in the root folder, copy it) If you don't see these files in your root folder, choose View, Options in Windows NT Explorer. Select the radio button labeled Show All Files. Now click Apply and then OK. Now you should see the files. If you don't, press F5 and look again. Using the boot floppy, you can boot into your damaged system and make the appropriate repairs. | ||
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| Let's say that you right-click a shortcut's icon and choose Properties, click the Shortcut tab, and click Change Icon. If you click the Browse button to search for more icon files, it's hard to know which files contain icons. Here's a REG file that will make your task easier. As usual, we can't guarantee that any Registry edit will work on your system, so proceed with caution. To generate the REG file, run Notepad and type in the following text as shown here, simply pressing Enter in place of "Blank line goes here." Note that lines 2 and 5 are blank lines. These empty lines are necessary for the REG file to work properly.REGEDIT4 Blank line goes here [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\dllfile\DefaultIcon] @="%1" Blank line goes here Now choose File, Save As and select a folder for your new REG file. Name the file DLL.REG and save it. To use the REG file, double-click its icon. It will merge its data with the existing REG data and replace the current contents of the default icon with %1. After you run DLL.REG, restart the computer and run Windows NT Explorer. Now that you've modified the Registry, all DLL files that do not contain icons will use the default icon. DLL files that display icons other than the default contain icons you may want to use. | ||
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| We often suggest that you use RegEdit to edit Registry entries--and we always warn you to be careful when you edit the Registry. That can help make Registry editing a bit safer. When you need to edit the Registry, open RegEdit as usual and navigate to the key that contains information you want to change. Let's say as an example that you want to get rid of some of the files in the Run list. Click Start, Run. Type in regedit and press Enter. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1125809198-528883985-1819828000-500\Software\Microsoft\W indows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU and click the RunMRU folder. Now choose Registry, Export Registry File. When the Export Registry File dialog box opens, give the file a name--something like Oldrun will do. Locate a folder in which to save the file, and click Save. You can go ahead and delete the files you want to eliminate now. When you're finished, close RegEdit (choose Registry, Exit) and restart the computer. If you should decide later that you eliminated some programs you'd rather have back, double-click Oldrun.reg, and the original data will be merged back into the Registry.This method won't guarantee complete safety, but it can help. | ||
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| Recently ran into a situation where I needed to remove the system attribute of a file. I right-clicked the file in Windows NT Explorer and then chose Properties. I found that the System Attribute check box was selected, but grayed out so I couldn't change it. Then I checked some other files and folders I knew had System Attribute checked. I found that I couldn't change any of them. "Is this normal behavior for Explorer or Windows NT Workstation 4.0? What can I do to change the system attribute?" This is normal for Windows NT Explorer (although we suspect it's a bug). If you need to change the system attribute of a file, first open the Command Prompt. Now, to go to the folder that contains the file, type cd\TheFolder and press Enter. Now, type attrib -MyFile.ext –s and press Enter. This will remove the system attribute from the named file. | ||
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| recently saw a tip on how to change the name of the company to which Windows 95 is registered. Could you please tell us how to do the same with Windows NT Workstation 4.0? Our company name recently changed, and we would like to change the name in Windows NT Workstation 4.0."You can do this with a simple Registry edit. That said, it's time to warn you that a Registry edit gone awry can thoroughly mess up your system. Click Start, Run, type regedit and press Enter. When RedEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion. In the right pane, you'll see the key "RegisteredOrganization"="Your old company name". Click this key to select it and press Enter. When the dialog box opens, type in the new name and press Enter. Close RegEdit (choose Registry, Exit) and restart the computer. Upon restarting, your new name will become active. Note that software installed before you made the change will continue to use the original name. | ||
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| When I installed Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, I used the defaults, so my Administrator account name is Administrator. Is there a way to change the name?" To rename the Administrator account, choose Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, User Manager. When User Manager opens, select Administrator and choose User, Rename. Type in the new name and choose User, Exit to close the dialog box. When you restart the computer, enter the new name in the Logon dialog box, then enter your password. | ||
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| We have had several questions about if there was any way to change the color of the log-on background, We recently ran a tip on how to change the log-on logo, but we didn't mention a way to get rid of that awful green background. Can you change the background to blue?" We could show you how to edit the Registry to make the log-on background blue, but let's do another REG file instead. Remember, we don't guarantee these REG files will work on your system, so use the file at your own risk. Run Notepad and enter the following as shown, except that you should insert a blank line where it says "Blank line goes here." REGEDIT4 Blank line goes here [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors] "Background"="0 0 255" Blank line goes here Choose File, Save As and locate a folder for the file. Name the file Colors.reg and click Save. The key to the color is the line "Background"="0 0 255". These numbers represent the values of red, green, and blue. To get a fully saturated blue (which, by the way, we find at least as ugly as the original green), enter 0 for red, 0 for green, and 255 (maximum) for blue. To get the most attractive background, you may wish to experiment with these values.To make the change, double-click the Colors.reg icon. This will merge the data with the Registry. | ||
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| recently added a CD-ROM drive to my computer. The problem is that Windows NT still looks at the previous drive letter when I make changes to the system. Is there a way to tell Windows NT 4.0 that the drive letter has changed?" You can make a Registry change to tell Windows NT Workstation 4.0 to use a different source CD-ROM drive. Be careful when editing the Registry. Click Start and choose Run. Now, type regedit and press Enter. When RegEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion. In the right pane, look for SourcePath. Double-click the SourcePath icon and enter your new path. For example, if the CD-ROM drive you want to use is Drive E, enter e:\i386 and click OK. Now, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup and double-click the SourcePath icon in the right pane. Enter the same source path as before (e:\i386 for example) and click OK. Choose Registry, Exit to close RegEdit and then restart the computer. SHUTDOWN ONLY AFTER LOG-ON By default, you can shut down Windows NT Workstation 4.0 without logging on. If you don't wish to allow users to do this, you can make a Registry change that will eliminate the option. As usual, be very careful when editing the Registry. Now click Start, Run, type regedit and click OK (or press Enter) to run RegEdit. When RegEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon In the right pane, locate ShutdownWithoutLogon and double-click its icon. When the Edit String dialog box opens, change the entry from its default value of 1 to 0 (zero). Close RegEdit by choosing Registry, Exit. Now, restart the computer.When the computer restarts, you'll notice that the shutdown option is no longer available. The only way to shut down is to first log on. | ||
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| A number of people have asked about ways to sort items in the Start, Programs menu. One way is to install Microsoft Internet Explorer 4. IE 4 modifies your desktop in several ways. With IE 4 installed, you can arrange your menu items using the drag-and-drop method. If you're already using Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 to access the Internet, you may want to consider upgrading to IE 4. | ||
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| We recently discussed choosing between Regedit32 and the newer RegEdit when editing the Registry. "To me the big benefit to RegEdit is its search capabilities. When you use Regedit32, you can only search for a key and can only search one hive at a time. RegEdit allows you to search all hives at once for any value you need, whether you're searching for a key or for data." | ||
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| recently installed a new modem and now my Internet connection won't work. I get a message telling me the port is in use. But the port is not in use. The modem is on Com 3, and the only other Com port being used is Com 1, where I have my mouse attached. Why does the computer think Com 3 is already in use?" This is the type of question that we normally don't handle either because we don't have enough information about the system, or because we have no way to simulate the problem. However, this one is very frequently encountered. By default, Com 1 and Com 3 use the same interrupt and Com 2 and Com 4 share an interrupt. In many cases, this doesn't pose a problem because we don't try to use both ports simultaneously. But if the mouse is on Com 1, it's being used constantly.Therefore, if you attempt to use a modem on Com 3, you'll have a conflict.The best approach in this particular case is to move the modem to Com 2. This should solve the problem. | ||
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| In our July 22 tip, we discussed a way to control the startup sequence. "Your startup sequence tip was good, but I do it a different way. Startup will run in alphabetical order so I go into the startup folder and rename all the shortcuts using numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, and so on). I put the number in front of the original name. For example, MyProg.exe would become 1MyProg.exe (or 1_MyProg.exe). This way you can quickly put the files in any order you like." | ||
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| In the last tip, we showed you how to create a shortcut to a file using the Create Shortcut wizard. You can also use the wizard to create shortcuts to folders. However, the procedure is a bit different from that used to create shortcuts to files.To create a new folder shortcut using the Create Shortcut wizard, right-click the desktop and choose New, Shortcut. Now, type in the folder path. For example, if you want to place a shortcut to your data folder, you might type c:\MyStuff\Data After you enter the path, click Next. Enter a name for your new folder and click Finish. You have no icon options at this point--the new folder gets assigned the default folder icon. If you'd like to change the icon, right-click the shortcut and choose Properties. Click the Shortcut tab and then click Change Icon. Select an icon and click OK. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box and save your changes. | ||
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| We ran a tip suggesting that you could restart more quickly after a Registry change if you choose Start, Shut Down, Close All Programs, and log on as a different user. In that tip, we said that holding down the Shift key while you click Yes to restart the computer has no effect in Windows NT 4.0. Several readers objected to this statement, so let's clarify it. In Windows 95 and 98, you choose Start, Shut Down and select the Restart the Computer radio button. Then you click Yes to restart the computer. If you hold down Shift while you click Yes, Windows 95 will restart without going through the computer boot sequence. Windows NT Workstation 4.0 will not do this--even if you hold down Shift, the computer will begin its boot sequence. However, as a numbers of readers mentioned, if you continue to hold down the Shift key while Windows NT Workstation 4.0 restarts, the system will bypass many of the drivers that it would otherwise load. But since your system will be minus some of its drivers, this isn't a good way to speed up the restart. This feature exists to help with trouble-shooting, not to provide speedy start-ups. | ||
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| I set Numlock On in my BIOS setup, but it still turns off when I run Windows NT Workstation 4.0. Is there a way to turn on Numlock automatically?" Some people seem to have problems getting Numlock to turn on when NT 4.0 starts, and others don't have the problem. Some readers have said that SP 3 cures the problem and others say it doesn't. Our experience is that Numlock won't turn on automatically in Windows NT Workstation 4.0 unless we make some changes to the Registry.Since so many readers experience the Numlock problem, we decided to create a REG file to make the Registry changes. Although we've tested the REG file here, we can't guarantee that it will work as expected on your system. If you decide to try the REG file, run Notepad and enter the following exactly as shown, simply pressing Enter in place of the text "Blank line goes here": REGEDIT4 Blank line goes here [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard] "InitialKeyboardIndicators"="2" Blank line goes here [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Keyboard] "InitialKeyboardIndicators"="2" Blank line goes here Choose File, Save As, and choose a folder for your new REG file. Name the file Num.reg and save it. Next, double-click the Num.reg icon to merge the file with the Registry. After you run Num.reg, turn on Numlock and restart the computer. When Windows NT Workstation 4.0 starts again, Numlock will be on. | ||
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| you can enhance the security of your Windows
NT Workstation 4.0 if you instruct the system not to display the name of the last
user.This is a procedure that often appears in tip requests. This time, rather than go
through all the steps required to edit the Registry, let's create a REG file to take care
of the job. As usual, we can't guarantee that the REG files shown here will operate as
expected on your system, so proceed with caution. To write the REG file, run Notepad
(Start, Programs, Accessories, Notepad). Type in the following exactly as shown except for
the line numbers. The line numbers are there to show what data you must type on each line. 1. REGEDIT4 2. 3. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] 4. "DontDisplayLastUserName"="1" Choose File, Save As and name the file Secure.reg. Save the file in a folder for later use. Now locate the folder and double-click the new REG file. This will merge the data with the Registry. Restart the computer, and you'll find that the user name no longer appears. If you decide you want to put the system back to its default condition, run Notepad and type in the following: 1. REGEDIT4 2. 3. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] 4. "DontDisplayLastUserName"="0" Choose File, Save As and name this file Sec_Off.reg. As before, run the file to restore your Registry to the default, and the user name will appear when you boot the computer. |
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| In a Unix or Linux OS, the command line is
very important. Somewhere along the line, someone implemented the ability to have
directory and exec files in different colors. This makes browsing a little more
distinguishable and colorful. Is there a way to get NT to display directories and exec
files in different colors?" No, you can't set separate colors for file types.
However, there are several ways to set the command prompt colors. To select new default
colors for the command prompt window, right-click the Command Prompt icon and choose
Properties. When the Properties dialog box opens, click the Colors tab. Use the radio
buttons labeled Screen Text and Screen Background to select new colors. After you make the
color selection, click OK.If you're working in the command prompt window and would like to
change the colors temporarily, you can use the Color command. The Color command uses the
color combinations shown here. 0 = Black / 8 = Gray 1 = Blue / 9 = Light Blue 2 = Green / A = Light Green 3 = Aqua / B = Light Aqua 4 = Red / C = Light Red 5 = Purple / D = Light Purple 6 = Yellow / E = Light Yellow 7 = White / F = Bright White The Color command syntax is color BF where B is the background color and F is the foreground. Choose your colors from the list shown above. Let's suppose that you'd like a bright white background with light red letters. Type color fc and press Enter. For a blue background with white characters, type color 17 and press Enter. |
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| Remember automatic log-on? That's officially known around these parts as "the tip that refuses to die." Here's another tip that rises from its resting place now and then. Right-click Start and choose Open. Right-click the Start Menu window, and then select New, Folder. When the new folder appears, give it the following name (you must type the name exactly as shown here--we suggest that you copy and paste the text): Control Panel. {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} Now click Start. Control Panel will be the first item (at the top of the list). When you move your mouse over the new Control Panel folder, a cascading menu of all your system's Control Panels will appear. | ||
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| A number of readers have asked about how to add custom log-on messages to Windows NT Workstation 4.0. Although we've discussed this in the past, it's been a while, so let's run through the procedure. Adding a custom log-on message requires you to edit the Registry, so be careful. Click Start, Run, type regeditand press Enter. When RegEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon. Look in the right pane for entries named LegalNoticeCaption and LegalNoticeText. If the two entries already exist, you can add the text you want to use for the title in LegalNoticeCaption. Double-click the LegalNoticeCaption icon, enter your text, and press Enter. Repeat for LegalNoticeText. After you've entered your text, close RegEdit (choose Registry, Exit) and restart the computer. If the two entries don't exist, right-click in the right pane and choose New, String Value. Name the new entry LegalNoticeCaption. Now, create a new entry named LegalNoticeText. Enter text into the new entries as described above. | ||
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| When you move the mouse through a Windows NT Workstation 4.0 menu, you'll notice that there is a delay before the submenu opens. There's a purpose for this: You don't expand every submenu that you move past as you scroll through the menu. However, some people would like either more or less delay. You can make this delay as short or as long as you like. You'll find the key that controls the menu speed at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. The key name is MenuShowDelay, and it accepts entries from 0 (zero) to 65535. Zero represents minimum delay, and 65535 is the maximum delay. We've generated a REG file that will change the speed for you. To create the file, run Notepad and enter the following exactly as shown: REGEDIT4 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop] "MenuShowDelay"="0" Now choose File, Save As and name the file Delay.reg. Locate a folder that you want to use for the file and click Save. The file as shown will set the menu delay to its minimum. If you want to change the delay to something other than the minimum, change the zero to another number. The only way you can really get exactly what you want is to experiment with a variety of values. All you have to do is open the REG file for editing and then change the value. Make sure you always keep the value between the quotation marks. The quotation marks are necessary. Then save the file and run it. Each time you run the file, you'll need to restart the computer (or log on again). | ||
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| If you'd rather not fool with all the problems of the Dial-up Networking, here's a batch file that you can use to dial your ISP, run Microsoft Internet Explorer (or some other browser), and then hang up when you're finished. To generate the batch file, run NotePad and enter the code shown here: c:\Winnt\system32\RasPhone -d Your ISP server as listed in Dial-Up. 'dial "c:\Program Files\Plus!\Microsoft Internet\IEXPLORE.EXE" ' run IE c:\winnt\system32\rasdial Your ISP server as listed in Dial-Up /DISCONNECT ' hang up Choose File, Save As. Name the file something like Dial.bat (Dial isn't important, but the BAT extension is) and save it in a convenient folder.You can place a shortcut to Dial.bat on the desktop. Once the shortcut is in place, right-click the icon and choose Properties. When the Properties dialog box opens, click the Shortcut tab. Now, click the arrow at the right side of the Run list box and choose Minimized. This will prevent the MS-DOS window from showing up when you run the file.The path names shown in the batch file may not be the same as yours. Use Windows NT Explorer to locate the necessary file locations and substitute your path for the ones shown. | ||
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| In the last tip, we discussed an enhanced way to move files for possible later recovery. Rather than write a separate batch file to delete files to a folder for potential recovery, you can use Doskey to alias the Del command and make a new Delete command: doskeydoskey DEL=move $* C:\Trashdoskey DELETE=DEL $* Using this macro, you don't have to remember to use a new command--just use Del. When you are sure you want to delete a file permanently, use Delete.To create and use the macro, run Notepad and type in the code as shown above. Name the file Del.bat and save it in your Startup folder. When you start, the Doskey macro will be in place for use | ||
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| Here's a Windows NT 4.0 Easter egg that subscriber Frank L. tells us we've missed. Right-click the desktop and choose Properties. Click the Screen Saver tab and choose 3-D Text as your screen saver. Now click Settings, click in the text entry box, and type the words I love NT Click OK. The screen saver will now display the word Good? question mark and all. | ||
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| Several readers asked us to point out that you should disable antivirus software when you install new programs. This is a good suggestion because most antivirus software will cause problems when you install new software. That's especially true when you install software (such as service packs) that makes changes to your system. On the other hand, you may want to consider leaving the antivirus software on when you install freeware or shareware, which is a source of many viruses. The main consideration is usually not who wrote the program, but where you got the program. If you get the program from a safe site (such as http://www.pcworld.com), you can safely disable the antivirus software. If you get a program from a BBS you know very little about, you're risking a virus invasion. An original CD from a major software supplier is always virus free, but beware of the CDs you may pick up at computer show flea markets--these could be copies. Not only are copies illegal, they could harbor viruses. If the CD obviously wasn't labeled with a CD printer, pass up that "bargain." | ||
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| Service Pack 4 has been available since late October. If you're ready to apply this latest (and last) Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Service Pack, go to http://www.microsoft.com/support/winnt/default.htm and download at your leisure. To see what Service Pack 4 has to offer, click What's New in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 before you begin the download. | ||
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| Is there a way to get rid of the beep that sounds when a message box or alert appears. You can assign whatever sounds you wish to in Windows NT Workstation 4.0 events. If you wish, you can also assign no sounds at all to the events. Click Start, Settings, Control Panel. When Control Panel opens, double-click the Sounds icon. When the Sounds dialog box opens, click an event to select it, and then look in the Name list box to see what sound is currently assigned to the selected event. To assign a new sound (or no sound at all), click the arrow at the right side of the Name list box to expand the list. You can select None if you don't want a sound assigned to the current selection, or you can select a new sound from the list. If you’d like to assign a sound that doesn't appear in the list, click Browse and search for the sound file you want to use. After you make all your selections, click OK to close the dialog box and record your changes. | ||
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| One of our subscribers asks if we can explain how to log on to Windows NT Workstation 4.0 automatically. Since we've had so many requests for this tip, we wrote a REG file to make the process easier for you. Although we're using a REG file as opposed to using RegEdit to make the Registry changes, we are still making changes to the Registry. We can't guarantee that the REG file will perform as expected on your computer. To create the REG file, run Notepad and enter the following exactly as shown. Where you see the words BLANK LINE GOES HERE, press Enter to insert a blank line. Note that the REG file needs these blank lines to work properly. REGEDIT4 BLANK LINE GOES HERE [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] BLANK LINE GOES HERE "AutoAdminLogon"="1" "DefaultPassword"="Your Password goes here" BLANK LINE GOES HERE For this tip to work, you must have a password, and you must enter the password that you chose for your system log-on. If you enter a different password, you'll have problems with other programs. Type your password into the REG file at DefaultPassword. Make sure you retain the quotes. Now choose File, Save As and name the file Auto.reg. Locate a folder for the file and click Save. | ||
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| A few months ago you ran a tip describing how to run a program automatically by making a change to the Registry. Could you repeat this tip? I need to start a program on several of my workstations, and if I put them in the start-up folder, the users delete them."Let's do a REG file for this task to make the job a little easier. As usual, we must warn you that there's no guarantee the REG file will work as you expect. Use REG files at your own risk. To create the REG file, run Notepad and type the following exactly as shown, substituting a blank line for the text "Blank line goes here": REGEDIT4 Blank line goes here [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows] "run"="c:\\MyFolder\\Myprogram.ext" Blank line goes here Enter the program and the path of your program as shown in the example line "run"= Don't leave out the quotation marks. Choose File, Save As and locate a folder for your new file. Name the file Runit.reg and save it. To merge the file with the Registry, double-click its icon and restart the computer after the merge completes. (You'll go through a few dialog boxes that will let you know when the data has been added to the Registry. | ||
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| We've often talked about the need to frequently back up the Registry--especially when you intend to make changes. correctly points out that the most thorough way to do is this is to use the rdisk utility. Here's a tip:To back up the Registry, go to the Run command, typer disk /s and press Enter. This will launch the Repair Disk utility and prompt you for the number of floppies required to back up the registry files. This is also called the Emergency Repair Disk.First Repair Disk updates the configuration files (these are found in the System_Root\Repair directory) and then requests a floppy. Repair Disk then formats the floppy and copies the files from the \Repair directory to the disk(s) in a compressed format. The down side to this is that if you ever have to do a repair, the information on the disk(s) is only as current as the last time you ran the rdisk utility. So, if you're going to edit the Registry, this is a good time to run rdisk. Once you've run the rdisk utility, you can do a Repair procedure to replace the desired registry key(s). If you don't want to go through the Repair Disk utility, you can just copy the contents of the \Repair directory to floppy or zip disk. These files are already compressed. | ||
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| Some time ago, you suggested editing Bootsect.dos to change the name of the alternate operating system. Based on your suggestion, I opened the file. There was nothing there to edit, so I saved the file and closed it. Now I can't boot Windows 95."Thanks for the comment. We do always try to inform people when we know a tip is particularly dangerous--and we recognize that many tips have the potential to cause problems. However, you misread the particular tip that you mentioned--we suggested editing Boot.ini, not Bootsect.dos. The problem that you experienced should warn other readers not to fool with Bootsect.dos. If you damage this file, you will not be able to boot your alternate system. As a general rule, if you open a file and see that it contains binary data as opposed to all text, don't save the file. Instead, click the Close box or press Alt-F4 immediately. If a dialog box opens asking about saving the file, click No. You do not want to save changes to a binary file using a text editor. | ||
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| If you've installed Service Pack 4, there's a change in the Calculator you might like to know about. Calculator now clears the display when you switch between Standard and Scientific views. If you need to switch between views without losing the current number, here's a workaround. For this example, let's say you're currently in Standard view. Store the currently displayed number by clicking MS. Then choose View, Scientific to switch view. Click MR to recall the number you stored in Standard view. | ||
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| I have two CD-ROM drives in my computer running under Windows NT Workstation 4.0. I recently noticed that when I was using CD Player to listen to an audio CD, I was unable to access data on the second CD-ROM drive. What I discovered is that CD Player can sometimes lock out both drives. Apparently, when you run CD Player, it looks for audio CDs in all the available CD-ROM drives." We were not able to emulate this problem. If you have the problem, you could try this: In CD Player, choose Options, Preferences. When the Preferences dialog box opens, select the check box labeled "Stop CD playing on exit" and then click OK. Now close CD Player and see if you can access your second drive. | ||
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| By default, NT keeps dormant connections open for 10
minutes. You can easily increase dormant connection timeout, reducing network traffic. For
example, if you have an application that opens or closes and reopens a UNC path less
frequently than 10 minutes, you can reduce network traffic by increasing the default. To
do this, edit the following Registry entry, adding the Value name KeepConn as a type
REG_DWORD (the default is 600 seconds and the range is 1 - 65,535 seconds): HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters |
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| If you want to remove NT from the boot sector of a
system, here are two ways to do so. First, if you simply want to return the system to an MS-DOS configuration, boot the system from a DOS disk and type SYS C: to overwrite the NT boot sector with the MS-DOS boot sector. You'll need to delete the following files manually from the root folder: Pagefile.sys Boot.ini Ntldr Ntdetect.com Ntbootdd.sys Another option is to go back to your original Windows 95 setup. To do this, boot your computer from a Windows 95 bootable floppy disk and use the SYS command as described above. |
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| After you remove NT from the boot sector of your system, you'll need to clean off the old NT directories and files. For Windows NT 3.51 and earlier, you can delete the /Users, /Win32app, and /Winnt directories and their contents. In some cases, the Winnt folder name may vary or NT may have been installed in the same folder as Windows 3.1. If this is the case, you should delete only the System32 folder in the Windows folder. For Windows NT 4.0, you should delete the /Users and /Winnt directories and their contents. | ||
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| You can prevent Network Neighborhood from displaying
computers in your local workgroup or domain with a simple Registry change (as always, be
careful when editing the Registry--we can't guarantee the results). You can still access
these computers; they just don't show up in the Network Neighborhood listing. To make this
change, use the NT Registry Editor to modify the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows: For the value NoWorkgroupContents, set the value to 1. Save your changes and restart your system. |
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| You can prevent Network Neighborhood from displaying
or accessing computers outside the local workgroup or domain with a simple Registry
change. You can still access these computers; they just don't show up in the Network
Neighborhood listing. To make this change, you'll use the NT Registry Editor to modify the
following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows: For the value NoEntireNetwork, set the value to 1 (the default is 0). Save your changes and restart your system. |
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| You can prevent users from altering NT system settings
that affect the position of your icons and open windows and the size and position of your
taskbar. To set these restrictions, you'll need to edit the following key using NT's
Registry Editor: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer For the NoSaveSettings value, you can set a value of 1 (the default is 0), so that changes to the positions of icons and open windows and the size and position of the taskbar are not saved. |
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| While it may look impressive to walk into a server
room and see complex screen savers such as NT's 3D Pipes on all the servers, this visual
effect may be costing you in server performance. Complex screen savers require CPU
processing power--probably more than you think--and you'd be much better off using it for
services and applications. If you're running this type of screen saver, consider switching
to a more boring, but more efficient, Marquee message, or--better yet--a blank screen. |
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| If you find that you regularly run the same file search, you can save yourself some time by saving the search information as a shortcut. To run the search again, you simply double-click the shortcut icon. To create a shortcut for a search, run the search one time. Then click on File And Save Search. When you do, NT places an icon on your desktop that points to the search, including all the parameters you defined. You can leave the shortcut on your desktop or create a folder for your searches and move it there. | ||
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| If you're sharing printers with others in your office, you know how annoying it is to wait for the printer while it's processing a huge print job. Fortunately, NT enables you and others sharing a printer to schedule jobs that are large or less time critical for later printing. To set up a printer for scheduled jobs, click Start, then Settings, and choose Printers. Right-click your printer icon and choose Properties, then click Scheduling. Select From and pick your time range. After you make the choices, click OK to close the dialog box and record your changes. Now any jobs sent to this printer print during the times you specified. Using this technique, you can create multiple icons for the same printer, each scheduled to print during specific time ranges. | ||
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| If you've installed Service Pack 4 for Microsoft
Windows NT Server, you may experience problems several known bugs in the Service Pack
cause. Microsoft has identified some issues with the Security Configuration Manager (SCM)
MMC Snap-in that ships with NT 4.0 Service Pack 4. The company has created a supported fix
that corrects this, but the fix has not been fully regression tested and should be applied
only to systems experiencing this specific problem. If you are not severely affected by
this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Windows NT service
pack, which contains this fix. If you need to resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. |
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| Another useful utility for evaluating NT security is
Security Explorer from Small Wonders, which lets you search for and modify Windows NT
security on NTFS drives, the Registry, and Shares. You can search across subdirectories
for permissions, then grant, revoke, and clone permissions across subdirectories without
affecting any other user's permissions. You can export permissions to a database for
further analysis and reporting, and you can back up your file permissions and restore them if necessary. For more info on Security Explorer, visit the following Web address: http://www.smallwonders.com |
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| NT provides an option that allows you to control the
amount of disk space allocated for deleted files. You can specify how much disk space you
want to devote to deleted (or potentially deleted) material. To change this setting,
right-click the Recycle Bin icon and choose Properties. When the dialog box opens, you can
select the amount of space the Recycle Bin uses. The default is 10 percent. If you like,
you can also deselect the check box, Display Confirmation Dialog. With this deselected, NT no longer asks if you're sure you want to move a file (or files) to the Recycle Bin. You'll still be prompted when you empty the Recycle Bin. |
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| Did you know that you can change the size of the scrollbars that appear in your windows? You can easily change the width of the scrollbar, making it smaller to provide more window space, or wider to make it easier to use. To alter the size of your scrollbars, right-click on the desktop, then choose Properties from the menu. Next click on the Appearance tab and click on the Item drop-down box to display the list of items you can change. Choose Scrollbar from the list, then adjust its size using the arrows. Make sure you click OK on the way out to save your changes. Remember--this change affects all your windows. | ||
|
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| You may encounter a number of problems when you're
trying to install NT on your system. These can occur at any of several key stages in the
setup process, including right from the start. For example, you may receive an error
message such as 'Operating system not found' when you're trying to access the boot disk.
If you receive this error, first check your computer's BIOS to make certain the A: drive
is available as a boot drive. If you still have problems, you may have a damaged boot
floppy disk. Fortunately, NT can help you create a new set of installation disks. To
create new Windows NT Setup boot disks, format three disks, then from the NT CD-ROM I386 folder type WINNT /OX. This creates a new set of boot disks. |
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| You may encounter a number of problems when you're trying to install NT on your system. For example, you may find that Windows NT displays an error message claiming there is no valid partition on the hard drive. If you receive this message, you should check for a valid primary MS-DOS partition on the drive. You may need to create such a partition using Windows NT Setup or MS-DOS FDISK. Also, if the drive was originally formatted for Windows 95, the partition may be marked for the FAT32 file system. Since Windows NT 4.0 doesn't recognize the FAT32 format, to continue the installation you'll need to back up your data and create new partitions from either Windows NT 4.0 or MS-DOS. | ||
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| You may encounter a number of problems when you're trying to install NT on your system. These can occur at any of several key stages in the setup process. For example, if you're formatting partitions, Windows NT may stop responding. The problem may be that your hard disks have caching enabled. Fortunately, you can set drive controllers with caching capabilities to Write Through, not Write Back, resolving the problem (for details, see your hard drive manufacturer's instructions--they differ depending on the system). | ||
|
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| You may encounter a number of problems when you're trying to install NT on your system. These can occur at any of several key stages in the setup process. For example, during GUI-Mode Setup, the computer may hang at random intervals, either during file copies or between screens. This usually indicates problems with interrupt (IRQ) conflicts, video, or the SCSI bus. To resolve these problems, make sure you don't have any hardware interrupt conflicts among your devices (check your network card settings first). | ||
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| Having trouble connecting to a Windows 95-based or Windows 98-based computer from your NT system? Microsoft has identified a problem you may experience when you try to map a drive, resulting in the error message "Error 53 - Network name not found." This problem can occur when you are using file and printer sharing for NetWare service on the Windows 95-based or Windows 98-based computer, and you don't have SAP Advertising enabled. To resolve this problem, click Start, Settings, Control Panel, and then double-click Networks. Next click the "File and printer sharing for NetWare Networks" service, then click Properties. In the Property box, click SAP Advertising. In the Value box, click Enabled, then click OK. | ||
|
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| Have you installed the Security Configuration Editor?
If so, you should be warned that the uninstall procedure will cause you problems.
Uninstalling SCE will render SCM (Security Configuration Manager) inoperable. As a
workaround, execute the following two commands, restoring your original permissions
editor: RENAME %SystemRoot%\System32\Rshx32_5.dll Rshx32_5.sav RENAME %SystemRoot%\System32\Rshx32.dll Rshx32_5.dll You'll still need to reset all the folder and file permissions you changed using SCE. As you attempt to view an object you had changed, a pop-up error informs you that the permissions are not viewable, offering you the opportunity to reset them. |
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|
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| As you make changes to your hardware and software
setups, there's something else you need to think about--your Emergency Repair Disk. It's
one of those things you hope you never have to use, but should you need it, you want it to
be up-to-date. Any time you make changes to your system, you should update your ERD. To do
this, pop your ERD in your disk drive, click the Start button, and choose Help. Next click Index and type "repair disk" in the Search box, then click Display. Finally, click the Repair Disk button and choose Update Repair Info. That's all there is to keeping your ERD ready should you ever need it. |
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|
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| Windows NT includes a set of raster fonts. These are
the fonts you commonly use in the various parts of the system. They come in specific
sizes. For example, you'll find MS Serif in 8, 10, 12, and 14 points. Although you can use
these fonts for any of your applications (and NT scales them), they always look best in
their supplied sizes. If you scale them more than one or two point sizes, they become
jagged. Here is a list of the Windows NT raster fonts: - Courier - MS Serif - MS Sans Serif - Small - Symbol |
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|
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| Would you like to allow the users on your NT network
to manage their passwords using the Web? With Password Manager for IIS, you can. Password
Manager for IIS, an ideal tool for intranets or ISPs, allows any user to change his or her
NT domain password by using a Web interface. Users need not connect to the server directly
by NT networking. All the user needs is a standard Web browser and an HTTP connection to
the NT Web server. (A proxy server can also make this connection.) System administrators
can set up a password change dialog box, a simple HTML form. Users can change their
password on this form. For more info on Password Manager, visit the following Web address:
http://www.adiscon.com/PasswordManager |
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|
||
| Microsoft has identified a problem you may experience
when you attempt to connect to a share on a Windows 95-based computer from a Windows NT
4.0 workstation or server. The connection attempt may fail, giving you an "Access
denied" error message. Microsoft says the problem is the result of an
interoperability problem between Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3
installed and Windows 95. Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3 makes a
connection using a null user name, which Windows 95 does not handle correctly. To fix the problem, download the updated file for Windows 95 and OSR1, and later versions of this file: VSERVER.VXD version 4.00.954 For Windows 95 OSR2 and OSR 2.x, and later versions of this file, you need the following updated file: VSERVER.VXD version 4.00.1112 dated 7/24/97 112,904 bytes These files are available in the support area of the Microsoft Web site: |
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|
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| Looking for a quick way to join a domain? With a
utility called netdom.exe, found in the NT Resource Kit, you can join a domain and/or
create an account right from the command line. If you're a domain administrator, you can
add a computer to the domain and create the computer account with one command. Otherwise,
you need to have your administrator add the account; then you can join the domain using
netdom.com. To create an account, you enter the Netdom command as follows: netdom /domain:domain_name /user:userid /password:password member:computer name /add To join the domain, you enter the Netdom command as follows: netdom /domain:domain_name /user:userid /password:password member:computer name /joindomain |
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| NT should allow you to delete any file in folders for
which you have Full Control permissions, even if the file is set to No Access or Delete
(only). Unfortunately, NT Explorer has a bug that prevents this, specifically when it
attempts to move the file to the Recycle Bin. Microsoft has a workaround with the
following steps. First, add Read permission to the file, then use File Manager
(Winfile.exe), deleting the file using the Del command. Another workaround is to hold down
the shift key when deleting a file to prevent it from moving to the Recycle Bin. |
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|
||
| Did you know that you can add a custom message to your
Windows NT 4.0 start-up? You do so by editing the following key in your NT Registry--but
always be careful when editing the Registry; we can't guarantee that the effects of
Registry edits will be what you expect or that they won't do any harm: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon To make the change, launch NT Registry Editor and locate the key above. Next look in the right pane for the value LegalNoticeText. If the string exists, double-click its icon and add your text. Click OK and close the Editor. If the string's not already there, you can add it. To do so, click the right pane and choose Edit, New, String Value. Name it LegalNoticeText, add your text, and click OK. Close the Editor and restart the computer to make the change effective. |
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|
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| In a previous tip, we showed you how to add a message
to your Windows NT start-up. Similarly, you can add a title to your Legal Notice dialog
box. To do so, launch the Registry Editor and locate the following key--but always be
careful when editing the Registry; we can't guarantee that the effects of Registry edits
will be what you expect or that they won't do any harm: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon In the right pane, locate the value LegalNoticeCaption. Double-click the value and add the text you want to appear in the title bar of the Legal Notice dialog box. If LegalNoticeCaption doesn't appear, click the right pane and choose Edit, New, String Value. Name it LegalNoticeCaption, then add your text and click OK. After you finish, close RegEdit and restart the computer. |
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| Right-clicking on an icon gives you many options, including Send To. This feature provides a quick way for you to copy files to specific destinations. The default destinations can include your disk drive, your My Documents folder, your Briefcase folder, and others. If you have another area to which you regularly send files, you can add it to the Send To list. To do this, simply add a folder or application shortcut to the C:\Winnt\Profiles\YourProfile\SendTo folder, in which YourProfile is the name of your profile folder. | ||
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| NT provides two ways you can adjust the spacing of
icons on your desktop. Those who are menu-driven should right-click a blank area of the
desktop, then choose Properties. On the Appearance tab, use the Item drop-down box to
select Icon Spacing (Horizontal) or Icon Spacing (Vertical) and toggle Size to make your
adjustments. Finally, click the Apply button to save your changes. For those who prefer to make changes in the Registry, you can perform the same tasks by editing the following Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop The values you can tweak are: - Edit IconSpacing, a type REG_SZ value, for the horizontal setting. The default for small icons is 131 and for large icons is 147. - Edit IconVerticalSpacing, a type REG_SZ value. The small icon default is 75 and large icon default is 91. |
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|
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| Can your page files be a security hole? After all,
they do hold sensitive data. The answer is yes! NT swaps memory pages to disk when an
application needs physical memory. Even though the page is not accessible while the system
is running, someone could access it by, for example, booting another OS. Fortunately, you can create a Registry key that forces the memory manager to clear the page file when the system goes down. To make this happen, use the NT Registry Editor to set the value of the following key to 1: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\MemoryManagement\ClearPageFileAtShutdown Keep in mind--this will clear the page file only when you bring down the system normally. |
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| If you like to use Notepad to store notes for yourself
while you work, here's something you may not have noticed. When you use cut and paste to
move all the text from Notepad to your primary document, Notepad then declines to save an
empty document. It deletes the file instead--with your permission, of course. To take a
look at how this works, add some text to a Notepad document and save it under a new name.
Now select and cut the text and choose File, Save. Because there's nothing left in the document to save, Notepad offers to delete it. |
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|
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| Are you experiencing a "Trap E" error
message when booting your NT workstation? If so, the problem may be that your SCSI BIOS
doesn't have full INT 13h support. Here are a few suggested workarounds. You can try
creating an Ntbootdd.sys in the C: root that is a copy of your SCSI driver (it must be
less than 64KB). Or, if your SCSI BIOS has full INT 13h support for just one or two
drives, make the boot disk a supported drive. In the worst case, you may end up replacing
your SCSI adapter with one that has full INT 13h support. |
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| Service Pack 4 for NT addresses several bugs and known
issues. Microsoft provides the details in a series of articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. These articles list the bugs fixed in Service Pack 4 for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. To read the articles, visit the Microsoft support site: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q224/7/93.asp |
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|
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| To keep your NT servers running at their peak, you
need to track a lot of activity. One tool set that can help you in this task is Enterprise
Event Administrator, a Windows NT and Windows 2000 enterprise event management utility
that provides comprehensive security auditing, application management, and real-time
system monitoring. The product provides consolidated enterprise monitoring through its
distributed collection and monitoring of event data and centralized event management. Event data is filtered at the source, which provides low overhead and data transmission. Enterprise Event Administrator collects many types of data, including Windows NT event logs, performance thresholds, service and process status changes, and application text logs including IIS and SQL Server. For more info on this utility, visit the following Web site: http://www.pcworld.com/r/tw/1%2C2061%2Ctw-work0510%2C00.html |
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|
||
| You can easily change a workstation name following these steps. First log on to the NT server; in Server Manager, add the new computer name (Computer -- Add to Domain). Next launch Control Panel on the workstation and double-click the Network icon. Click on Change and type in the new Computer Name; then restart the workstation. Finally, on the NT server, delete the old computer name. | ||
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||
| In a previous tip, we told you how to change the order of the items in your boot menu. You can also change the descriptions that appear in the menu using the same technique. To make changes to the descriptions, simply edit your boot.ini file using the text editor of your choice. Remember, the boot.ini file is read-only, so you'll need to change this attribute before editing (don't forget to set it back after your edits). It's also a good idea to make a backup copy of the file before you make changes, just in case. | ||
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||
| Do you receive a file delete sharing violation each time you start NT? If so, you may be experiencing a known problem the TweakUI utility causes. The problem is a result of having the 'Clear document history at startup' option turned on, causing the error 'Cannot delete FILE NAME, there has been a sharing violation.' To resolve the problem, simply disable that option in TweakUI. | ||
|
||
| Need to send a quick message to others on your NT
network? You can do this (provided you have started the Messenger service on your server)
from the Command Prompt using the Net Send command. Here's how it works. At the Command
Prompt, to send a message, you simply type: net send recipient "message" Just replace the recipient placeholder with the machine name of the person you wish to message, or type an asterix (*) to broadcast to all stations. Make sure you enclose the message in quotation marks! |
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|
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| Once you install NT on a system, can you copy or move
the installation to another system? While this sounds like a reasonable expectation,
Microsoft doesn't support it. In most cases, if you copy or move a Windows NT 4.0
installation onto a new drive or folder, some system functions and programs behave
unpredictably or won't work at all. The reason is that the Windows NT 4.0 registry
contains some hard-coded paths such as "C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\" instead of "%SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32\." In addition, some programs may use hard-coded paths. Since moving or copying the system won't always pick up these paths, you'll have quite a few problems. Running a fresh installation is much less trouble. |
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|
||
| Need to create a set of replacement installation disks
for your NT package? NT provides an easy method. Both Winnt.exe and Winnt32.exe allow you
to create boot floppy disks for installing Windows NT or for using the emergency repair
disk. Use the /O switch to create a set of boot floppy disks you can use to perform either
a Winnt.exe or Winnt32.exe installation. These disks are identical to the set a regular
Winnt.exe or Winnt32.exe installation creates. Using this switch allows you to create the
floppy disks without installing Windows NT. Use the /OX switch to create a set of boot
floppy disks to perform a CD-ROM or floppy disk installation. These disks are identical to
the disks Windows NT includes in either the CD-ROM or floppy disk format. |
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|
||
| NT allows you to delete a directory and all of its files, even when you have only Read permission to access the files. This can be dangerous! The reason NT allows this is that if you have Full Control permission for a directory, you automatically have an implied FILE_DELETE_CHILD permission, which allows you to delete a directory and all the files even if the files are read-only. You can remove file delete privileges, preventing accidental or intentional deletion of your read-only files. You do this by removing Full Control privileges from the directory. | ||
|
||
| Are you having difficulty deleting files with names identical or similar to those of DOS devices? As a safety precaution, Windows NT Explorer won't let you delete files with DOS-like names such as NUL, COMx, AUX, LPTx, and PRN. You can, however, delete them from a command prompt using the old standby del command. Make sure you back up the file if you're not sure what the consequences of deleting will be! | ||
|
||
| Are you planning to install a DVD driver on your NT
system? If so, make sure you get drivers from the manufacturer. NT doesn't provide drivers
for DVD players. Windows 2000 will include native DVD support, but only for reading data.
Most manufacturers include the driver you need. For example, Creative Labs provides an NT
4.0 driver for its DVD drive. |
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|
||
| Looking for an easy-to-use tool to assist in managing
and protecting your NT-based Web site? If so, you should check out ASPLogin. This tool
helps you password-protect your Windows NT-based Web site without using Windows NT
security. You can set up ASPLogin to use its own database of users, or you can integrate
it with an existing system. You can even customize the log-in screens your users see to
match the rest of your site. ASPLogin Pro also provides individual user and group permissions for each page and a Web-based administration utility. ASPLogin comes as a 32-bit compiled active server component for maximum performance, and it can use any ODBC data source such as Microsoft Access or SQL Server. You can get ASPLogin as a freeware version and in a full-featured Pro version. For more info on ASPLogin, visit the following Web site: http://www.oceantek.com/asplogin |
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|
||
| Windows NT allows you to view the configuration of a
remote computer's Registry and even make changes to it, as long as you have administrative
rights. Remember, always be careful when editing the Registry--we can't guarantee that the
effects of Registry edits will be what you expect or that they won't do any harm. Launch the Registry Editor, then choose the Select Computer option from the Registry menu, displaying the Select Computer dialog box. Select the remote computer whose Registry you want to edit and click OK. The Registry Editor opens the remote computer's Registry, displaying its information. You're now ready to make your changes. |
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|
||
| Tired of seeing the little "Click here to
begin" message each time you start NT? You can turn it off with a simple Registry
change (as always, be careful when editing the Registry--we can't guarantee the results).
Launch the NT Registry Editor and locate the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer For the value NoStartBanner, set the value to 1 to hide the arrow and caption. |
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|
||
| Life insurance and emergency repair disks--two things
you hate to deal with, but when you need them they sure are great to have around. When
problems arise in Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 that render a system unbootable, you may be
able to boot off a DOS floppy disk and access the machine's drives for repair and salvage.
ERD Commander is a utility that enables you to boot NT off a floppy disk in order to
access and repair a dead NT installation. It's a command-line shell that runs off a set of
NT boot disks, giving you full access to nonbootable NT systems with a robust set of
familiar command-line file manipulation tools including copy, rename, delete, move, and
xcopy. ERD Commander works on NT 4.0 only and is available for x86 and Alpha. For more
information on this utility, visit the following Web address: http://www.sysinternals.com/erdcmndr.htm |
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|
||
| If you create a shortcut to a file and then change the
location of the file, the shortcut may no longer work. NT tries to locate the file and
make the change for you. If NT isn't able to do this, you'll need to make the change to
the path yourself. To modify the shortcut, right-click it and choose Properties. When the
Shortcut Properties dialog box opens, click the Shortcut tab. Type the new path into the
Target text box, then click OK. |
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|
||
| If you sometimes boot into MS-DOS, you should make a
bootable floppy disk in case of problems. When you do, make sure to format the floppy disk
from MS-DOS, not from the Windows NT Command Prompt. A disk formatted from the Command
Prompt will not produce the correct Partition Boot Sector on the floppy disk. |
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|
||
| When you enter commands in NT's Command Prompt window, it records a history of those commands (up to 50). You can then access the command again without having to retype it. To do so, simply press F7 to open the History dialog box. Now use the arrow keys to highlight the command you want, then press Enter to execute it. If you need more than the default 50 commands, click the Command box (upper left corner) and choose Properties. Click the Options tab and set Buffer Size to the number of commands you need. Click OK twice. | ||
|
||
| When you create shortcut icons, NT automatically puts
Shortcut To in the icon name. You can make a change in the Registry to prevent this,
giving you cleaner descriptions for shortcuts. To make the change, launch the NT Registry
Editor and navigate to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer Now, double-click the link value name in the right pane and set this type REG_BINARY entry to Hex 00000000. You'll need to log off and on to make the change effective. |
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|
||
| You can hide a machine from network browsers, yet
still have it available for connection. The process is simple. You'll use NT's Registry
Editor to modify the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Parameters To hide a machine, set the value Hidden from 0 to 1, and restart your system. You can still connect to the computer, but the browser won't display it. |
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|
||
| As you know, you can hide file extensions on your NT system through the View, Options menu. However, there may be some exceptions you'd rather keep visible. For example, if you'd like to display the extensions of all .txt files, you can do so without affecting other file types. To make this happen, click View, then Options in the window. Next click File Types and locate the extension you wish to display--in this example, .txt. Finally click Edit and click the Always Show Extension check box. Click OK to save your changes, and you've set the view so you see the extension only for the specified file types. | ||
|
||
| By default, the locally cached copy of a profile is stored in %SystemRoot%\Profiles\, which may be an issue if you have a large number of people logging on to a computer. This process puts a huge demand on disk space. Fortunately, you can move the locally cached copy of a profile to another local partition. To move the locally cached copy of the profile, you need to know the security identifier (SID) of the user whose profile you want to move. You can find the SID with GetSID.exe from the Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit. | ||
|
||
| You can ease the task of installing NT on your systems by taking advantage of your network. To install NT from the network, simply copy your Windows NT installation files onto a central server. Then you can perform NT installations from the network using the WINNT command or by copying the entire I386 folder from the Windows NT CD-ROM to the hard disk, then running WINNT from the local disk. | ||
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| In today's IT world, it's not always a question of
whether to use NetWare or NT. Integration is the name of the game. Novell offers several
tools to make integration of NT servers into your NetWare environment less painful. One of
those tools is Workstation Manager 1.0. This tool from Novell allows you to administrate your NT workstations via NDS. Workstation Manager lets you specify NT properties (group memberships, policy, profiles, and so forth) for NDS users; these properties get assigned dynamically when the user logs into any NT workstation on the network. For more information about Workstation Manager, check out the Novell Web site at http://www.novell.com/support |
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| In today's IT world, it's not always a question of
whether to use NetWare or NT. Integration is the name of the game. Novell offers several
tools to make integration of NT servers into your NetWare environment less painful. One of
those tools is Novell Administrator for Windows NT 2.0c. This product addresses two issues
for those who choose not to run NDS for NT. First, it offers a nonintrusive (no SAM redirection) solution to administration. Second, you may have an application that requires NT Server but doesn't require domains. This solution synchronizes the SAM of the stand-alone server with NDS. For more information about Novell Administrator for Windows NT, check out the Novell Web site at http://www.novell.com/support |
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| In today's IT world, it's not always a question of
whether to use NetWare or NT. Integration is the name of the game. Novell offers several
tools to make integration of NT servers into your NetWare environment less painful. One of
those tools is IntranetWare Client for Windows NT 4.11a. Novell recommends you use this
client on NT workstations and servers not running NDS for NT. Novell maintains this client
separately from the client that ships with NDS for NT (4.12). Novell warns that under no
circumstances should you install the NDS for NT client on any Windows NT Workstation or
Server not running the NDS for NT product. Check out the support section of the Novell Web site for the latest clients and detailed information at http://www.novell.com/support |
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| In today's IT world, it's not always a question of
whether to use NetWare or NT. Integration is the name of the game. Novell offers several
tools to make integration of NT servers into your NetWare environment less painful. One of
those tools is NDS for NT 1.0. You can use this tool in an existing NT domain environment,
or in one that implements domains. NDS for NT redirects all NT Server requests for the SAM
to the NDS database. You can administer all users, groups, and computers via either
Microsoft or Novell utilities. The advantage to NDS for NT as opposed to Novell
Administrator is that it maintains only one database and handles the synchronization of that database via NDS replication. For more information about NDS for NT, check out the Novell Web site at http://www.novell.com/support |
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| If you're experiencing intermittent failures when logging in to your NetWare servers, the problem may lie with licensing. When a Windows NT client logs onto a NetWare NDS Tree, a licensed connection to the NetWare server is required. If your NetWare server is out of licenses, NT can't establish a connection, causing the log-in script to fail. No access will be allowed. | ||
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| Security is top priority for network administrators.
To help you evaluate the security status of your network, check out the Kane Security
Analyst. This tool assesses the security status of your Windows NT networks and reports
security in six areas: password strength, access control, user account restrictions,
system monitoring, data integrity, and data confidentiality. KSA provides the
expertise of seasoned security specialists and streamlines the analysis process with
built-in security best practices. It also includes Kane File Rights for NTFS volumes. Kane
File Rights is an interactive tool that allows users to investigate rights and privileges
associated with various users, groups, and directories. This feature IS important, since
it would take a lot of time to investigate each user ID manually. For more info on KSA,
visit the following Web address: http://www.intrusion.com/products/intrusion.html |
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| Looking for a real-time network security monitoring
tool for Windows NT? If so, check out the Kane Security Monitor from Intrusion Detections.
KSM is an intrusion detection system that provides network security monitoring and
detailed event log analysis for Windows NT networks. KSM seeks out and identifies the
security violations of outside hackers or even authorized inside users, providing an
enterprisewide centralized collection facility for event logs otherwise stored separately
on each machine. Once KSM has identified a violation, it alerts the system administrator
or security officer with the details by e-mail or audible alarm. KSM identifies security
patterns, including failed log-in attempts, failed file access attempts, browsing and
curious users, denial of service, excessive privilege granting, ghost IDs, masquerading
users, password cracking, administrative ID abuse, and supervisor abuse. For more info on
the Kane Security Monitor and its companion tools, visit the following Web address: http://www.intrusion.com/product/ksm_nt.html |
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| When you choose a menu item that opens a submenu,
Windows NT 4.0 inserts a small delay. This delay prevents submenus from opening as you
move through a menu, taking up time and computing power. You can set NT to cruise through
menus without the delay or make the length of the delay longer. To do so, launch the
Registry Editor, then locate the following key (but always be careful when editing the
Registry--we can't guarantee that the effects of Registry edits will be what you expect or that they won't do any harm): HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop In RegEdit's right pane, locate MenuShowDelay and double-click its icon to open it. When the dialog box opens, type 0 for no delay or a larger number than the default to set a longer delay. Close RegEdit and restart the computer. |
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| Curious about how much memory an application is using on your NT system? You can quickly discover this through NT's Task Manager. With the application loaded, press Ctrl-Shift-Esc to open Task Manager. Click the Processes tab and locate your application in the list. Task Manager provides information about the application, including its memory use. | ||
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| Would you like to monitor who is making Registry
changes on your NT workstations? While NT doesn't provide a way to track changes, a
third-party product can help. Regmon is a Windows 95 Registry utility you can use to watch
and display information on systemwide Registry accesses as they occur, allowing you to
track down the problems that misconfigured Registry settings cause. Regmon works on NT
3.51, 4.0, 5.0 (Win2K), Windows 95, and Windows 98. For more information on this utility,
visit the following Web address: http://www.sysinternals.com/regmon.htm |
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| Security is the number one issue on the minds of most
network administrators, making it a factor in the evaluation of every new product. As for
NDS for NT, Novell assures us that it provides a totally secure solution. Novell reminds
us that Windows NT loses its C2 security once you install a network card and that it is
C2-evaluated only for NT version 3.51, not version 4.0. Novell is also certifying NDS for
NT through a third party. For more information, including white papers and a trial version
for evaluation, check out the Products section of the Novell Web site at http://www.novell.com |
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| In today's corporate environment, it's not always
"NetWare or NT"--it's "How do we integrate NT and NetWare?" With that
in mind, Novell created a new product: NDS for NT. This product makes NT Domains
manageable objects within NDS, allowing a single user object to represent all the resource
needs of users in mixed NT and IntranetWare environments. NDS for NT includes extensions
for Novell's NWAdmin tool that represent the NT Domain objects in NDS. For more
information, including white papers and a trial version for evaluation, check out the
Products section of the Novell Web site at http://www.novell.com |
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| Does NT sometimes ask for a disk in drive A: or report
that there is no disk in the drive when you launch a Control Panel applet? If so, you may
have an inadvertent reference to the A: drive in your Registry or autoexec.bat file. These
unwanted references may result from a program installation or the NT installation itself.
Check the following keys in your Registry and remove the unwanted references to the A:
drive (as always, be careful when editing the Registry--we can't guarantee the results): HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\WinntPath HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Environment\Path You should also check your autoexec.bat file for unwanted references. |
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| Looking for a utility to help you monitor the behavior
of your Windows NT- or TCP/IP-based network? If so, NTManage and its companion products
may be of interest to you. NTManage provides a solution for the detection, diagnosis,
notification, and intelligent management of all Windows NT system errors, network faults,
and performance degradations. As you know, Windows NT records detailed information about
significant events occurring throughout your network in the System, Security, and
Application event logs. The Event Log Monitor product tracks these NT Event Logs in real
time to prevent security breaches and monitor application errors in critical system services. Another tool, Web-Sight, allows you to monitor your console from anywhere on the network. For more information on this suite of NT tools, visit the following Web site: http://www.lanware.net/products |
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| Having trouble installing Windows NT on your system? You may be falling victim to a virus--you can't install NT on an infected system. You'll need to run virus scanning and cleaning software first, or wipe out the drive completely before running the NT setup. The inability to install Windows NT because of a virus is a common problem that doesn't always identify itself, making it difficult to nail down the issue. When in doubt, run the virus program, then move on to more drastic measures. | ||
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| If you're experiencing problems with NTBackup
occasionally failing, the problem may be that the default time allowed doesn't give the
tape drive enough time to complete the last operation. To increase this time range, you
can edit the following Registry Key, adding the Value name Drive Settling Time as a type
REG_SZ (the default value is 60 seconds) and setting it to 120: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\NTBackup\Hardware |
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| Would you like to get everything you want to know
about your network adapter with one command? Well, maybe not everything, but certainly
some valuable information when you need it quickly. Just type IPCONFIG /all at the Command Prompt. IPCONFIG will display the card description, physical address, IP address, subnet mask, and more. |
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| As you may know, you can print a document quickly by putting a shortcut to the printer on your desktop, then dragging a document icon to it. Another quick access method is to put a printer shortcut in the Send To folder. To do this, open Windows NT Explorer and navigate to Winnt\Profiles\Administrator\Send To. Now click Start, Settings, and Printers. When the Printers window opens, hold down Ctrl and drag the printer icon to the Send To folder. Now you can right-click a document icon and choose Send To, then your printer's name. | ||
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| If you want to close all open windows with a single
command or mouse click, NT can help. For example, if you open My Computer, then drive C:,
then one of the folders, you can quickly close them all by holding down Shift and clicking
the last window's close box. All the windows you just opened close, including My Computer.
However, any other open windows not related to My Computer do not close. |
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| If you installed Service Pack 4 and are now having problems with NT, here are a few recommendations from Microsoft on recovering your system. First, you can use the Uninstall feature by selecting Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 in Control Panel, then choosing Add/Remove and clicking the Remove button. This is the preferred method of recovery. You can also run an emergency repair with an emergency repair disk created with rdisk/s after installing Service Pack 4. | ||
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| Reader George O. comments that it's too bad there
isn't a simple batch file language for Windows NT--one that would invoke windows, dialog
boxes, and so forth. There is a program that can help you with these tasks--and it's shareware. Go to http://www.pcworld.com/fileworld/file_description/0,1458,1270,00.html and download Visual Dialog Script. This program allows you to write relatively simple scripts to create windows, dialog boxes, and other items. Give it a try--if you find it useful, you can register for $69. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 The macro was designed to replace the DEL command with one that sends the files to a specific folder for safekeeping until you decide whether you want to delete them permanently. To create and use the following macro, run Notepad and type the code as shown: doskeydoskey DEL=move $* C:\Trashdoskey DELETE=DEL $* Choose File, Save As and name the file Del.bat. Save the new file in your start-up folder so it will be available whenever you start Windows NT Workstation 4.0. Now go to the root folder of drive C and type "md Trash" to create the Trash folder. Using this macro, you don't have to remember to use a new command--just use Del. For example, you could type "del c:\data\myfile.txt" to move myfile.txt to the c:\Trash folder. When you are sure you want to delete a file permanently, use Delete instead of Del--this sends your files directly to the Recycle Bin. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Subscriber Warren T. asks this screen saver question: "Is there an easy way to start the screen saver shortly after the system starts if nobody logs on? I'd like to start a screen saver in about 30 seconds if there's no log-on." You can set a screen saver using a Registry edit. As usual, be very careful when you edit the Registry. Before you open RegEdit, locate the screen saver you want to use. You'll find them in \Winnt\system32. The screen savers have an SCR extension. Write down the name of the one you want to use--you'll need it later. Now click Start, Run, then type: regedit and press Enter. When RegEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop. In RegEdit's right pane, locate SCRNSAVE.EXE and double-click its icon. When the Edit String dialog box opens, type in the full path and name of your screen saver file. For example, you might select c:\winnt\system32\ssmaze.scr to use the Maze screen saver. After you enter the name of the screen saver, click OK to close the dialog box and save your selection. Next, locate ScreenSaveTimeOut and double-click its icon. When the Edit String dialog box opens, enter the delay time you want to use in seconds. You mentioned you'd like a delay of about 30 seconds, so enter 30 and click OK to close the dialog box and record your selection. Now choose Registry, Exit to close RegEdit. The next time you start your computer, the screen saver starts after 30 seconds if no one logs on. Note that these changes have no effect on your standard screen saver selection. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 In the last tip, a reader described a way to start an MS-DOS program by dragging its icon to the command prompt window. This time, let's look at a tip subscriber Steve G. submitted. "I recently added the command prompt to the menu that opens when you right-click a folder in Windows NT Explorer. I thought other readers might like to try this." If you'd like to check out Steve's menu method, run Windows NT Explorer and choose View, Options. When the Options dialog box opens, click the File Types tab. Now locate Folder and select it. Click Edit, then click New. In the Action text box, type Command Prompt and in the Application Used To Perform Action box, type cmd.exe Next click OK. Back in the Edit File Type dialog box, click OK again. When you get back to Options, click Close to close the dialog box and save your changes. Now right-click a folder and choose Command Prompt to open a command prompt window at the folder's path. As an example, you might have a folder named Data on drive C. Right-click the folder and choose Command Prompt. The command prompt window opens with the path set to c:\Data. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 "I have several unregistered files on my hard disk that I would like to be able to print with Notepad. Is there a way to add a Print command to the right-click menu for these files? I know I could register them to use Notepad, but I'd prefer to leave them unregistered." Let's suppose for the purpose of this example that you have some unregistered files with an ASC extension that you'd like to print from the right-click menu. Run Windows NT Explorer and choose View, Options. When the Options dialog box opens, click the File Types tab. Now click New Type and under Description Of Type enter ASCII File Then press Tab to move to Associated Extension and type in ASC Now click OK to continue. Back in Options, click Edit. When the Edit File Type dialog box opens, click New. Next click the Action entry box and enter Now press Tab to move to Application Used To Perform Action and enter C:\WINNT\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE /p assuming this is the correct folder for your installation. If not, substitute the path on your system. Click OK to continue. When you get back to the Edit File Types dialog box, click Close. In Options, click Close again. Although your ASC file retains the original default icon, and will not open in Notepad if you double-click it, you can right-click the file and choose Print from the menu. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Here's an easy way to add items to the Send To menu when you right-click a file name: First, run Windows NT Explorer and locate \Winnt\Profiles\User\SendTo (where User is the current user). Let's say you've added a Zip drive (or similar product) to your system as drive X, and you want to add drive X to the SendTo menu. Use the right mouse button to drag the drive X icon to the SendTo folder. Release the mouse button and choose Create Shortcut(s) Here. When you right-click a file and choose Send To, drive X appears in the menu. If you prefer to add only one folder from drive X to Send To, simply use the right mouse button to drag that folder to the SendTo folder. Choose Create Shortcut(s) Here, and that folder appears in Send To. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 "Here's something I ran across on the Internet and thought others might be interested. If you rename a bitmap image 'file name.{D3E34B21-9D75-101A-8C3D-00AA001A1652}' you associate that file permanently with MSPaint.exe. You can now rename the file to anything you like and it still opens in MS Paint. For example, let's say you name a BMP file 'Jeff.{D3E34B21-9D75-101A-8C3D-00AA001A1652}'--you can go back later and rename the file Jeff one.pict if you like. When you double-click the renamed file, it still opens in MS Paint." |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 We received this request from reader Teresa G.: "I once saw a tip on how to make notes to yourself in the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Help files. If this was your tip, could you cover the topic again? Even if it wasn't your tip, could you cover the topic?" Sure, we can take a minute to discuss Help file annotation. Double-click My Computer, then choose Help, Help Topics. When the Help Topics dialog box opens, click the Index tab. Now select a topic and click Display. Next click Options and choose Annotate. When the Annotate dialog box opens, you can enter your note. Click Save to close the dialog box and record your note. To indicate there's a note present, Help now displays a green paper clip icon next to the topic. Click this icon to open the Annotate dialog box and read your notes. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 A recent tip from a reader reminds us that you can open Windows NT Explorer in My Computer. All you have to do is right-click the Windows NT Explorer shortcut and choose Properties. When Properties opens, click the Shortcut tab. Now click in the Target entry box and enter explorer.exe /e,/root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} Click OK to close the dialog box and save your changes. Although this method works fine, there is a better way. Right-click the Windows NT Explorer shortcut icon and choose Properties. When the dialog box opens, click the Shortcut tab. Finally, click in the Target entry box and enter Explorer.exe /n,/e,/select,C:\ Click OK to close the dialog box and save your changes. This method works just like the previously described method except that it has the advantage of including Network Neighborhood in the Explorer window. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Here's a question from reader Wayne R.: "I use Microsoft Word for Windows every day. Is it possible to assign a function key to open Word? I use Windows NT Workstation 4.0." You can assign Windows NT Workstation 4.0 function keys to programs. However, you need to be aware that many of these keys are already assigned. If you reassign them, you'll lose the original function. The best approach is to use whatever Ctrl-Alt key combination Windows NT Workstation 4.0 suggests. Let's suppose you would like to open Word using Ctrl-Alt-W. First place a shortcut to Word on your desktop. Now right-click the shortcut and choose Properties. When the Properties dialog box opens, click the Shortcut tab. Next click the Shortcut Key entry box and type W (Windows NT Workstation 4.0 adds Ctrl-Alt automatically) to assign the key to Word. Click OK to close the dialog box and record your changes. Now when you press Ctrl-Alt-W, Word opens. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 We discussed automatic log-on (the tip that will never die) last month. Since then, we have received mail from several users who would like to have automatic log-on available to people other than the administrator. One subscriber works in a library and needs to allow members of the public to log on. The question is, can you log on a person other than the administrator? The answer is yes, you can. Let's look at the library example. Say the user name in this case is Public and the password is public. Let's make the necessary changes to last month's REG file. To create the REG file, run Notepad and enter the file as shown. Where you see BLANK LINE GOES HERE, press Enter. REGEDIT4 BLANK LINE GOES HERE [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] BLANK LINE GOES HERE "DefaultUserName"="Public" "AutoAdminLogon"="1" "DefaultPassword"="public" BLANK LINE GOES HERE Choose File, Save As, and name the file Public.reg. Locate a folder for the new file and click Save. To use the file, locate it and double-click its icon. You'll get a dialog box saying the file has been merged and so forth. Click OK in this dialog box to continue. We're assuming that you already have a user named Public and you've already set all the policies and so forth. Now restart the computer. You may get an error message telling you that the password or name is incorrect. If so, the log-on dialog box appears. Enter the name and password--for example: Public and public and click OK. Now you're in Public. If you restart the computer, the system automatically logs on to Public with no input from the users. When you need to log on as an administrator, click Start, Shut Down. When the Shut Down Windows dialog box appears, select the 'Close all programs and log on as a different user?' radio button. Click Yes and hold down Shift while the system starts. This time, you'll get the startup dialog box, where you can enter Administrator and your password. When you're ready to go back to Public, use the same method to restart and change the log-on to the following: Public and public |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Subscriber Raleigh S. asks us to pass along the tip that the NT Backup utility does a very good job of backing up the registry. When you do a backup, just select the Backup Registry check box. This option only becomes available when you're backing up files on the primary Windows NT Workstation 4.0 disk (drive C: in most cases). |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 We received this batch file question from subscriber Todd A.: "I often need to write batch files in Windows NT Workstation 4.0. Is there a way to change the color of the Command Prompt window in a batch file? For example, I'd like a particular batch file to begin with the default, white on black. When the batch file reaches a specific point in its execution, I'd like to change the window to red on white. When the batch file finishes running, I'd like to change the colors back to the default." You can use the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Color command to set the Command Prompt window colors. To make the change, try a batch file similar to the one shown below. To generate the batch file, double-click the Command Prompt icon to open the Command Prompt window. Type edit test.cmd and press Enter. This opens the text editor, Edit.com. Now enter the following: @echo off pause color FC pause color 07 After you type the code, choose File, Save to save the file in the current folder. At the prompt, type test and press Enter. When the batch file starts, the window appears in its default white on black. Press a key to continue past the pause, and the window changes to red on white. Press a key again, and the window returns to the default colors. To set the window colors, use the following numbers for the foreground and background: 0 = Black 1 = Blue 2 = Green 3 = Aqua 4 = Red 5 = Purple 6 = Yellow 7 = White 8 = Gray 9 = Light blue A = Light green B = Light aqua C = Light red D = Light purple E = Light yellow F = Bright white The first number is the background color and the second is the foreground. To get the default, white on black, enter color 07 If you'd like to use light red on a green background, type color 2C and press Enter. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Reader J. J. asks how to change the default address for NT source files: "When I install new hardware, the system always asks for Windows NT Workstation 4.0 at a:\. How can I change it to d:\i386?" You can change the source to point at the \i386 folder on your installation CD using RegEdit. If you decide to do this, be careful and back up your Registry first. With your backup ready, click Start, Run, type in regedit and press Enter. When RegEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\ CurrentVersion. In RegEdit's right pane, you'll see a key named SourcePath. Double-click its icon and enter into the Edit String dialog box d:\i386 (assuming that D: is your CD-ROM drive) Click OK to save your change and close the dialog box. Now choose Registry, Exit to close RegEdit. Restart the computer and the system will now look in d:\i386 for its files. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Here's a question from reader--and new Windows NT Workstation 4.0 user--Frank D.: "I recently added Windows NT Workstation 4.0 to my Windows 98 computer. As originally configured, my computer used one drive with two partitions (both 2.1GB formatted as FAT partitions), and one drive (5.1GB formatted as FAT32). I installed Windows NT Workstation 4.0 onto the second partition and converted that partition to NTFS. "When I use Windows NT Explorer, the FAT32 partition appears as drive E:. Of course the drive isn't accessible to Windows NT Workstation 4.0. Is it practical to use Disk Administrator to change the drive letter to something like X so it appears more out of the way in Windows NT Explorer? Will this have any effect on the drive letter in Windows 98?" Yes, you can use Disk Administrator to change that drive letter. Click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools (Common), Disk Administrator. When Disk Administrator opens, click the FAT32 (Unknown) partition and choose Tools, Assign Drive Letter. When the Assign Drive Letter dialog box opens, click the arrow at the right side of the Drive Letter list box and select a new letter from the list (we used X). Make sure you don't select a letter already in use. After you make your selection, click OK. Disk Administrator opens a dialog box asking if you want to continue. Click Yes, then choose Partition, Exit to close Disk Administrator. Since you won't have any programs running on the FAT32 partition, you should have no problems with this drive letter change. The change will have no effect on Windows 98. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Reader Del V. asks if there's a way to minimize all the open windows in Windows NT Workstation 4.0. If you use a keyboard that has a Windows key, you can simply press Windows-M to minimize all open windows. If you later need to undo the minimization, press Windows-Shift-M. You can minimize the active window using the keyboard by pressing Alt-Space-N sequentially. To maximize the active window, press Alt-Space-X. If you'd like to close the active window using only the keyboard, simply press Alt-F4. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Reader Norman H. wants to know how to compress folders in Windows NT Workstation 4.0. To compress a folder (or a file), run Windows NT Explorer and locate the folder you want to compress. Right-click the folder and choose Properties. When the Properties dialog box opens, select the Compress check box, then click OK. This opens a dialog box, offering OK and Cancel. It also contains a check box labeled "Also compress subfolders." If you want to compress all the subfolders in the folder, along with all the files, select this check box and click OK to continue. Compression may not be available on your system. Windows NT Workstation 4.0 only compresses files and folders on an NTFS disk with a cluster size of less than 4KB. When the cluster size is larger than 4KB, compression isn't an option. All disks over 2048MB in capacity have a cluster size of 4KB or greater. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 In the last tip, we discussed where to find the files needed for an Emergency Repair Disk. Reader Doyle V. asks what you can do when your repair files are too large for a floppy disk. Since you can't really consider the files safe if they reside on the hard disk, you need to copy them to some other media. You have relatively few options, depending on your hardware. For example, if you have a Zip drive (or some other large removable disk drive), you can put your emergency files there. A rewritable CD is another possible location for those emergency files. If you use tape backup, you can make a backup of the \Winnt\Repair folder. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Reader Bill F. asks us to point out that many Windows NT Workstation 4.0 users seem to ignore a very simple and convenient way of copying or moving files. All you have to do is use cut (or copy) and paste. Let's say you're working in drive D from My Computer. There's a file you'd like to move to drive D. You don't have to open drive D at the same time and then drag the file from one drive to the other. All you have to do is right-click the file and choose Cut (or Copy). Then you open drive D and right-click in the folder. Choose Paste and the move is complete. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Here's a batch file question from new subscriber Dan M.: "For a current project, I need to use batch files to create folders. However, I would also like to know when a folder already exists. Is there an easy way to do this in a batch file?" Yes, there is. The batch file shown here creates a specific folder if the folder doesn't already exist. If the folder does exist, the file simply reports that fact. To generate the batch file, run Notepad and type the code as shown. @echo off if exist c:\PCWorld\*.* goto message if not exist c:\PCWorld goto create goto end :create md c:\PCWorld echo Folder created goto end :message echo Folder exists :end After you enter the code, choose File, Save As and name the file whatever you want as long as it has a .bat extension--Test.bat will do. To run the file at the Command Prompt, just type test and press Enter. If you want to type a folder name when you run the file (this is probably more useful), change the code to that shown here. @echo off if exist %1 goto message if not exist %1 goto create goto end :create md %1 echo Folder %1 created goto end :message echo Folder %1 exists :end Now, let's say you want to create a folder named New on drive C. Type test c:\New at the Command Prompt and press Enter. If the folder doesn't already exist, this creates it. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 A user sent this Dial-Up Networking question: "I supervise a number of computers, all running Windows NT Workstation 4.0. My problem is that some people modify the system's Dial-Up Networking in an attempt to call a variety of ISPs and their home computers. I would like to hide (or delete) the Dial-Up Networking icon in My Computer. Is this possible?" It is possible, but to do this requires a very serious Registry edit. Here's how to delete the Dial-Up Networking icon in My Computer. Don't do this unless you have a very good reason to delete Dial-Up Networking. Click Start, Run, type "regedit" and press Enter. When RegEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\ {a4d92740-67cd-11cf-96f2-00aa00a11dd9}. Now, since you want to be able to undo what you're about to do, choose Registry, Export Registry File. When the Export Registry File dialog box opens, name the file DialOn and click Save. You can use this file later to reinstall your Dial-Up Networking icon. With the key exported to a file, click {a4d92740-67cd-11cf-96f2-00aa00a11dd9} and press Delete to delete the key. Choose Registry, Exit to close RegEdit. At this point, you can double-click My Computer to open it. You should no longer have a Dial-Up Networking icon. If the icon is still visible, restart the computer. You can still use all your dial-up connections, but without the icon you can't add or delete connections. If you decide to reinstall the Dial-Up Networking icon, locate your exported Registry file, DialOn.reg, and double-click its icon. This merges the original key back into the Registry, and the Dial-Up Networking icon reappears. Again, you may need to restart the computer. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Here's a question from NT Workstation user.: "I have a problem with several of the workstations I supervise: The users tend to press Ctrl-Alt-Del and then click LogOff. I would much prefer that they log off using Start, Shut Down. Is there a way to disable the LogOff button?" Yes, you can disable the button with a Registry edit. Remember to be careful when messing with the Registry. Thinking CAREFUL, click Start, Run; type in regedit and press Enter. When RegEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. Right-click the right pane of the Explorer folder and choose New, DWORD Value. Name the new value NoLogoff and press Enter twice. Set the value to 1 and click OK. Choose Registry, Exit to close RegEdit. Now press Ctrl-Alt-Del, and you'll find the LogOff button grayed out and unusable. This change is effective immediately--you do not need to restart. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Another NT user wants to know where to download Service Pack 4: "Also, I am using the original version of Windows NT Workstation 4.0 (no Service Packs). Do I have to install all the previous Service Packs before I install Service Pack 4?" To download Service Pack 4, go to http://www.pcworld.com/r/tw/1%2C2061%2Ctw-0406%2C00.html You'll find information on the service pack as well as download instructions. The answer to your second question is no. Service Pack 4 contains all the upgrades and bug fixes in previous Service Packs. |
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| "I recently used a Windows 98 boot disk to
install Windows 98 on my computer. My hard drive is partitioned, and all partitions are
FAT16. "The problem is that my computer automatically starts up in Windows 98. The only way I can get into NT is by using a Windows NT boot disk. (The disk contains the boot.ini file from my computer, which I've set to Windows NT as the default OS.) How can I get into Windows NT without this boot disk?" It sounds like your Windows 98 installation has written over the boot loader. Try this: Boot from the NT setup floppies and then choose Repair. Elect to repair only the boot records. Follow through with the repair, then restart the computer. You should now be able to dual-boot again. If you've installed a service pack, it's a good idea to reinstall it to make sure all your files are up to date. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 NT Workstation user wants to know if there's a way to create folders with just one click. We don't really know of a way to create a new folder by clicking a button, but we do know a way to make the job easier. What you can do is add a New Folder command to the right-click menu. Then right-click a folder in Explorer (or on the desktop, or in My Computer) and choose the New Folder command. To do this, run Windows NT Explorer and choose View, Options. When the Options dialog box opens, click the File Types tab. Now type fol to select the Folder entry. With Folder selected, click Edit. In the Edit File Type dialog box, click New, and in the Action entry box type New Folder Press Tab to move to the "Application used to perform action" entry box and type c:\winnt\system32\cmd.exe /c md """%1\NewFolder""" Click OK to close the dialog box and return to Edit File Type. In Edit File Type, click Close. This gets you back to the Options dialog box, where you'll click Close to close the dialog box. Now right-click a folder in Windows NT Explorer, and you find the New Folder command. Select the new command, and a new folder appears in the selected folder. Note that to create more than one new folder, you have to rename the first one you created. You cannot create two folders using the same name, and this method has no way of naming a folder anything other than New Folder. |
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| Windows NT Workstation 4.0 If you do much work with batch files in Windows NT Workstation 4.0, you should consider using Edit.com for the job rather than the default editor, Notepad.exe. Why switch editors? For one thing, Edit.com allows you to enter and display the extended character set some batch files use. If you'd like to make Edit.com your default batch file editor, open My Computer and choose View, Options. When the Options dialog box opens, click the File Type tab. Type ms and select MS-DOS Batch File. Next click Edit. When the Edit File Type dialog box opens, move to Actions and click Edit to select it. Now click Edit, replace Notepad.exe with Edit.com, and click OK. Back in the Edit File Type dialog box, click Close to get to the Options dialog box. Click Close again to close the dialog box. Restart the computer to activate your changes. With this change in place, you can right-click a BAT file and choose Edit to open the file in Edit.com. If you later decide you want Notepad.exe back, just go through the procedure again and replace Edit.com with Notepad.exe. |
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| The Microsft Office installation places FindFast in
your system. You can remove the shortcut from your Startup menu if you wish, but this
leaves the index files on your system. To remove FindFast, click Start, Settings, Control Panel. When Control Panel opens, double-click the Find Fast icon. When the Find Fast dialog box opens, select an index entry and choose Index, Delete Index. Click to the affirmative in any warning dialog boxes that open. Repeat this procedure for all the index entries. When you've deleted all of them, choose Index, Close and Stop to close the dialog box. Now it's time to get rid of the shortcut in Startup. Right-click Start and choose Open. When the Start menu window opens, double-click the Programs icon to open it. Next, locate the Startup menu and double-click to open it. Click the FindFast entry to select it, then press Delete. Click Yes to confirm deletion. Close all the open Start Menu windows and restart the computer. |
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| You can eliminate the Shortcut To prefix to shortcut
names with a Registry edit. However, let's do a REG file to make things easier. Remember
that running REG files still constitutes modifying the Registry. We don't guarantee that a
REG file will do exactly what you expect, so run them at your own risk. To generate the REG file, run Notepad and enter the following exactly as shown here. Where you see BLANK LINE GOES HERE, press Enter to enter a blank line. REGEDIT4 BLANK LINE GOES HERE [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer] "link"=hex:00,00,00,00 BLANK LINE GOES HERE Now choose File, Save As and name the file ShortOff.reg. Locate a folder for your new file and click Save. To run the REG file, double-click its icon. A dialog box opens, informing you that information has been entered into the Registry. Click OK to dismiss the dialog box. After you restart the computer, the Shortcut To prefix no longer appears in your new shortcuts. Note that only those shortcuts created after the Registry change lack the prefix--those created prior to the change retain it. |
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| We recently described a method of finding the CD Key
using RegEdit. As several readers pointed out, you can get the CD Key by right-clicking My
Computer and choosing Properties. When the System Properties dialog box opens, click the
General tab. You'll find the CD Key under Registered User. |
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| "Is there a way to force a laser printer to print
a page? For example, if you tell Windows NT Workstation 4.0 you want to send an MS-DOS
Print Screen directly to the printer, you won't get any printer output until the printer
gets enough data to fill up an entire page. Can you tell the printer to print even though
the page isn't full?" This is a problem when you try to send a screen capture directly to the printer. To use Print Screen directly from an MS-DOS application, locate the shortcut to the program (if there is no shortcut, create one) and right-click it. Choose Properties from the menu, then click the Misc tab. Under Windows Shortcut Keys, deselect the check box labeled Alt + PrtSc, then click OK to close the dialog box and save your selection. With these changes made, the screen contents go directly to the printer when you press PrtSc in the command prompt window. So now the problem is to get that laser printer to go ahead and print your screen. Click Start, Programs, Command Prompt. Type copy con now.bat and press Enter. Then type echo off echo ; At this point, make sure NumLock is active and hold down the Alt key while you type 012 from the keypad. Now add >prn to the end of the line. When finished entering this line, you should see echo ^L >prn Now press Enter, then F6, and press Enter again. To force a form feed (which causes the printer to print your screen capture), all you have to do is run Now.bat. You may find other uses for this batch file, so you may want to place it on your desktop. To do this, run Windows NT Explorer and locate the file. Use the right mouse button to drag the file's icon to your desktop. When you release the mouse button, choose Create Shortcut(s) Here from the menu. You can now simply double-click the shortcut to force a page feed on your printer. |
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| "I have three boxes of old 720KB floppy disks a
friend gave me. I need to format these disks, but Windows NT Workstation 4.0 always tries
to format them to 1.44MB instead of 720KB. Then either the format fails, or I have disks
with many errors. Can I format these disks in Windows NT Workstation 4.0, or do I have to
format them using MS-DOS on some other computer?" You won't need to use another computer--Windows NT Workstation 4.0 offers the 720KB format as well as the default 1.44MB format. Try this: Insert one of the 720KB floppies into drive A:, then right-click that drive's icon in My Computer. Choose Format from the pop-up menu. When the Format dialog box opens, click the arrow at the right side of the list box labeled Capacity, then select 3.5", 720KB, 512 bytes/sector from the list. Now click Start. The format should proceed normally and result in a usable 720KB disk (provided the disk is good). If you need to format a 720KB floppy disk from the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Command Prompt, type: format a: /f:720 and press Enter. Note: Some floppy disk drives detect the 720KB floppy disk and refuse to format it to 1.44MB. Other drives don't perform the detection and attempt to format the floppy to 1.44MB even though the format results in many disk errors. |
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| By default, Windows NT Workstation 4.0 saves the name
of the last user to log on and displays it in the log-in dialog box. If you prefer to boot
with a completely blank log-in dialog box, you can write a REG file to clear the last
user. When you run a REG file, keep in mind that you could potentially damage your NT
installation. To generate the REG file, run Notepad and enter the following exactly as shown, except that for the lines labeled BLANK LINE GOES HERE, you should press Enter to insert a blank line. REGEDIT4 BLANK LINE GOES HERE [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] "DontDisplayLastUserName"="1" BLANK LINE GOES HERE Choose File, Save As and name the file LastOff.reg. Choose a folder for the file and click Save. To clear the last user name when you log on again, double-click the LastOff.reg icon to merge the new value with the Registry. Restart the computer and you'll find no value in the log-in dialog box. Just in case you'd like to have Windows NT Workstation 4.0 save the last user again, you can create another version of the REG file to turn the option back on. To do this, right-click LastOff.reg and choose Edit. Set the value of "DontDisplayLastUserName" to "0". Your file should now match the one shown here (except for BLANK LINE GOES HERE--just press Enter). REGEDIT4 BLANK LINE GOES HERE [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] "DontDisplayLastUserName"="0" BLANK LINE GOES HERE Choose File, Save As and name the file LastOn.reg. Save the file in the folder that contains LastOff.reg. Double-click the LastOn.reg icon to save the last user name for the next log-in. |
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| "I'm probably just being paranoid, but I would
like to make sure there is no information remaining in the page file after a system shuts
down. Is there a way to set the page file to zero on shutdown?" You're not the only paranoid Windows NT Workstation 4.0 administrator around--we got the same request from several readers. Since we keep getting requests for an easy way to clear the page file, we decided to write a REG file to do the job. Remember, REG files can prove dangerous, and we don't guarantee this one will do what you expect. To generate the REG file, run Notepad and enter the following information exactly as shown. Where you see BLANK LINE GOES HERE, press Enter (don't type BLANK LINE GOES HERE). REGEDIT4 BLANK LINE GOES HERE [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Control\Session Manager\Memory Management] "ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001 BLANK LINE GOES HERE Now choose File, Save As, and name the file Page.reg. Locate a folder for the file and click Save. This REG file inserts the Value name ClearPageFileAtShutdown and sets it to 1. This causes Windows NT Workstation 4.0 to clear as much of the page file as it can at shutdown. Note that Windows NT Workstation 4.0 can't clear all the pages since some are active at shutdown. It clears only the inactive pages. |
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| "Is it possible to install Windows NT Workstation
4.0 on the same partition as Windows 98? I have a spare Pentium II computer with a single
2GB hard disk. I'd like to install Windows NT Workstation 4.0 without having to reformat
or partition the disk." You can install Windows NT Workstation 4.0 on a Windows 98 partition provided that partition is formatted using FAT16. In your example, this is probably the case. All you have to do is put your Windows NT Workstation 4.0 installation CD into the CD-ROM drive and double-click the drive's icon. When the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 window opens, click Windows NT Setup and proceed with the installation. Note that Microsoft doesn't recommend dual booting at all. If you're going to use dual boot, it's better to use a separate drive or partition for Windows NT Workstation 4.0. However, you can install NT 4.0 onto a Windows 95 or 98 partition, as we described, provided that partition uses FAT16. |
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| "My hard disk is large enough to hold the entire
I386 directory off the CD-ROM. What I would like to do is change NT so that it looks for
install files from the hard disk:\I386 directory instead of the CD-ROM]:\I386 directory. I
assume this is a REG hack, but I cannot find the keys. I think this would make a good
tip." If you copy the i386 folder from the CD to a hard disk and install from there, NT knows where to find the files. If your system is already installed, a Registry edit can tell Windows NT Workstation 4.0 where to look for files. We suggest you modify the Source Path with RegEdit. As always, be careful when using RegEdit. Let's suppose for this example that your CD-ROM drive is D. Therefore, your Source path is d:\i386. You copy your i386 folder to c:\i386. Once you've copied the folder from the CD to the hard disk, click Start, Run, type in regedit and click OK (or press Enter). When RegEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion. In the right pane, you'll see that SourcePath is set to d:\i386\ Change the value to c:\i386 and then choose Registry, Exit. When you restart the computer, the new path takes effect. |
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| "In a recent Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Tip
('Storing emergency repair information'), you stated that if you use the /s- switch with
Rdisk, NT 4.0 skips the floppy disk creation and leaves the emergency repair data stored
on the hard drive. My question is, where? I would like to use this option to store a copy
of the emergency repair data in my user directory on our corporate LAN, but I need to know
where the data is stored before it can be of any use to me." When you make an Emergency Repair Disk, the data first gets stored on the hard disk at \Winnt\Repair. After the system formats the floppy disk in Drive A, the data gets copied over to the floppy disk. So if you look in \Winnt\Repair, you'll find your latest repair information even if you created a floppy using Rdisk. |
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| "Is there a way to tell which Service Pack is
installed on the PC from within Windows NT Workstation 4.0? The only way I know to do it
is to reboot and look at the blue boot screen." While running Windows NT Workstation 4.0, double-click My Computer to open it, then choose Help, About Windows NT. The About Windows NT dialog box reports the build number and the Service Pack number. You can also run Windows NT Explorer and choose Help, About Windows NT. This produces the same dialog box you saw in My Computer. |
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| Some Windows NT Workstation 4.0 users don't know that you can easily prevent others from accessing your Windows NT Workstation 4.0. If you need to leave your desk for a while, just press Ctrl-Alt-Delete. When the Windows NT Security dialog box opens, click Lock Workstation. No one can access your workstation without a password. When you get back to your desk, just press Ctrl-Alt-Delete, type your password, and press Enter to get back to work. | ||
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| The desktop is a folder, too. This means you can run
Windows NT Explorer and move files into and out of the desktop. Let's take a look at this
option. Run NT Explorer and click the desktop folder to select it. Explorer's right pane
now displays the desktop contents. Now let's say you would like to place a shortcut to a specific folder on your desktop. Use the right mouse button to drag the new folder to the Desktop folder. When you release the right mouse button, choose Create Shortcut(s) Here from the menu. Note that dragging a folder to the desktop using Windows NT Explorer has no particular advantage over just dragging it to the desktop. However, if you're already working in Explorer, you can use this method to avoid juggling windows on the screen. |
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| "I often use REG files, but I'd like to get rid
of that dialog box that tells me the file has been merged. Is there any way to merge a
file without the dialog box?" There's no way to merge a REG file in the Windows environment without the dialog box, but you can do the job at the Command Prompt. All you have to do is open the Command Prompt window, type regedit /s file name.reg where file name is the name of the REG file you want to merge, and press Enter. RegEdit then merges the file with no response from the system. |
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| "In a recent NT 4.0 tip, you gave a REG file that
would allow you to bypass the log-in feature. It worked fine, but the network guys had a
heart attack when they couldn't log in as another user. Is there any way to allow me to
bypass the log-in screen (which was very nice), but keep alive the Log In Another User
feature?" This is surely the single most popular tip we have ever published. Before we answer his question, here's the REG file to which he refers. REGEDIT4 BLANK LINE GOES HERE [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] "AutoAdminLogon"="1" "DefaultPassword"="YourPasswordGoesHere" BLANK LINE GOES HERE To generate the REG file, run Notepad and type the code as shown. Where you see BLANK LINE GOES HERE, press Enter to enter a blank line. When finished entering the code, choose File, Save As and name the file Auto.reg. Locate a folder for the file and click Save. To run the file, double-click its icon. Now, to bypass the automatic log-on and log in as a new user, click Start, Shut Down, select the radio button labeled "Close all programs and log on as a different user?", and click Yes. Press and hold the Shift key while Windows NT Workstation 4.0 restarts. This time, you'll get the familiar log-on dialog box. Here's another suggestion. If you like to use the auto log-on setting while you work, but want to make sure the tech group has the ability to log on as they wish when you're not there, you could generate another REG file to turn auto log-on off. To do this, simply open the Auto.reg file in Notepad and change the line "AutoAdminLogon"="1" to "AutoAdminLogon"="0" Choose File, Save As and name the file LogOff.reg. Click Save after you choose a folder for the new file. Now, to turn auto log-on off, just double-click LogOff.reg. |
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| I like to open Explorer with no expanded drives or
folders. The only way I have found to do this is to open My Computer in Explorer view.
Place an Explorer shortcut on your desktop. Right-click the shortcut and choose
Properties. When Properties opens, click the Shortcut tab. Click in the Target entry box
and type C:\WINNT\EXPLORER.EXE /e,/root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} "Click OK to close the dialog box and save your addition. Now double-click the shortcut, and you'll get an Explorer view of My Computer--with none of the folders expanded." Thanks for the tip, Tolle. We suggest you copy the line Tolle showed us (substituting your drive letter if it's other than C), then paste it into the Target entry box. |
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| In the last tip, we discussed how to save a Registry
key using RegEdit's Export feature. We also discussed using Rdisk to make an emergency
repair disk (ERD). To make an ERD whenever you install new software is a very good idea.
If there's a problem, you don't want to spend your day installing applications that you've
already installed once. If you always have a current system backup made using Rdisk, you can recover not only your system, but all the registered applications as well. If you'd like to save only the installed associations, you can click Start, Run, type regedit and click OK. When RegEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Click this folder and choose Registry, Export Registry File. When the dialog box opens, name the file Associations and locate a folder in which to keep the file. Click Save to keep your changes and close the dialog box. This method saves all your file associations, and you just double-click Associations.reg to restore them when needed. Of course, the best method remains the Rdisk option, because this provides you with all the necessary information to restore your system in case of a disaster. |
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| "I used to try to write batch files when I didn't
even know how to use the commands. Sometimes I didn't even know what commands were
available to me. "I found that an easy way to see how commands work is to open the Command Prompt window and type help command |more "When you press Enter, you get a list of all the command's switches. Using More keeps it all on separate pages so you can read the entire list. For example, if you want to know what switches work with Xcopy, you'd type help xcopy |more "Then press Enter. You'll get a complete explanation of the command and its switches. "If you want to find out more about Cmd.exe, you can use the same technique. Just open the Command Prompt window, type help cmd.exe |more "Then press Enter. You'll get detailed information about Cmd.exe and its extensions." |
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| "My mouse (Microsoft) is attached to COM2. I run
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 with Service Pack 3. At times, my system fails to detect the
mouse on startup and I have to restart to get the mouse to work. Is there a way to force
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 to detect the mouse?" You can use a Registry edit to tell Windows NT Workstation 4.0 that the mouse is present, even when the system fails to detect it. Be careful when editing the Registry. Click Start, Run, type regedit and press Enter. When RegEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet \Services\Sermouse\Parameters. Right-click the right pane and choose New, DWORD Value. Name your new key OverrideHardwareBitstring. Double-click the new entry and enter 1 if you use COM1 and 2 if you use COM2. Close RegEdit (choose Registry, Exit) and restart the computer. Note: This tip does NOT apply to the PS/2 mouse port. |
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| If you're sure you want to delete a specific file in Windows NT Explorer, click the file to select it, then hold down the Shift key while you press Delete. This deletes the file rather than sending it to the Recycle Bin. Don't use this method to delete a file unless you're absolutely sure you will never need it again. | ||
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| Windows NT user has this troublesome dual-boot
question: "A few weeks ago, I decided that I needed to run Windows 98 exclusively. So I set the delay time to zero. Now I need to use Windows NT Workstation 4.0 again, and the dual-boot menu no longer appears. Is there any way to recover the menu short of reinstalling Windows NT Workstation 4.0?" You can get your dual-boot menu back quite easily. In Windows 98, run Windows Explorer and navigate to the root folder. Right-click Boot.ini and choose Properties. When the Properties dialog box opens, deselect the Read Only check box and click OK. Now double-click Boot.ini to open it. Your Timeout value is currently set to zero. Set it to a higher value of your choice and then choose File, Save to save your changes. With Boot.ini saved, right-click its icon again and choose Properties. Select the Read Only check box and click OK. When you restart your computer, you can choose to boot Windows NT Workstation 4.0. |
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